The funniest Seth MacFarlane movie is now streaming on Netflix

Netflix has a tendency to bring movies back to the forefront as they're celebrating their 10th anniversary. For instance, in June 2024, the streaming service drops Divergent and its sequels as the franchise's first movie turned 10 earlier this year. Along with the sci-fi action flicks, Netflix also releases Seth MacFarlane's funniest movie — and no, we're not talking about Ted.

It's probably a scorching hot take, but A Million Ways to Die in the West is actually funny. The movie, which streams on Netflix as of June 1, 2024, premiered in theaters on May 30, 2014 and wasn't nearly as big of a hit as the Family Guy mastermind's talking teddy bear comedy Ted. It wasn't as big of a hit with critics either, tapping out with a 33% on Rotten Tomatoes.

In the film, MacFarlane plays a well-meaning sheep farmer in the 1880s. A wealthy businessman (Neil Patrick Harris) steals his girlfriend (Amanda Seyfried) and threatens his life, but a confident newcomer in town (Charlize Theron) helps him become brave enough to stick up for himself. The movie has the same unserious sense of humor of most of MacFarlane's work and a stacked cast to boot.

Liam Neeson, Giovanni Ribisi, Sarah Silverman, and Alex Borstein also star in the movie, and Jamie Foxx makes one of the movie's many memorable cameos. When I watched the movie for the first time (which was admittedly many years after its theatrical release), I was pleasantly surprised at how much it made me laugh after having seen critics rip it to shreds 10 years ago. It's not the best movie in the world, but if you appreciate Family Guy and/or Ted, you'll appreciate the Western comedy.

Be warned, though, that the jokes are characteristically crude and many haven't aged well (or weren't even tasteful at the time to begin with). A Million Ways to Die in the West isn't for those who don't find sexual innuendos or other low hanging comedic fruit funny. But I do think that the movie could have been some of MacFarlane's best work with a slightly trimmed runtime and a bit more finessing. The vision is there and a lot of it works, but it could have been a much bigger movie.

Even if you watch it and say, "Eh, that wasn't for me," I would highly recommend giving A Million Ways to Die in the West a shot, or another shot if you've already seen it, for a summer movie night on Netflix in June 2024. It's the kind of movie that allows you to escape into its own wild world for two hours and have a few laughs. We can all always uses a few laughs, and Seth MacFarlane has devoted his entire career to supplying those laughs.

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