TR Review: Seth MacFarlane's Comedy Western Is an Unexpectedly Personal Statement

I don’t normally talk about moments that happen late in a movie’s run time, but it isn’t particularly a spoiler to say that there is a point not too long before the climax of A Million Ways to Die in the West at which Seth MacFarlane’s sheep-farmer Albert, once more facing certain death for the umpteenth time, offers up a testimony he hopes will save his life, in which he declares himself a “nerd asshole,” rejected by other assholes so he instead buried himself in books, learning math and languages.

It’s true of Albert, who stays nerdy throughout and does not become some Karate Kid-like hero at the end by learning how to fight like a man, but it’s also true of MacFarlane as well – this is, I think, the first time I’ve seen him basically admit that his reference-heavy, detached humor is a defense mechanism evolved from growing up weak among manly men, and it’s actually a pretty stirring nerd credo.

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