The American frontier was, as the opening voiceover to A Million Ways to Die in the West notes, a "hard place for hard men." Albert Stark (Seth MacFarlane), a sheep farmer in 1880s Arizona Territory, is not one of those men. He likes to pass the time by launching into rants about the poor quality of life in his hometown, Old Stump, where lapses in security, the rule of law, and even basic hygiene can result in fatal consequences. A dry obsession with imminent death is the thin connective tissue in MacFarlane's follow-up to Ted, a high-concept comedy that aspires to be one part Blazing Saddles and one part City Slickers. With MacFarlane's neurotic, snarky screen presence front and center it's definitely closer to the latter, if the concept of arrested adulthood had existed in the 19th century. In one sense, you pity Albert - he's a fish out of water who's never even seen the ocean. He's also a big, whiny baby, and the downfall of a momentarily engaging and frequently misfiring film.
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