GO WEST

Name: GO WEST
Item: GO WEST
Author: Cooper Dowd

"Wacky, but Too Strange and Weird"

Family Content: -2 Extreme caution for older teenagers and adults.

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

Credits →

What You Need To Know:

GO WEST is a comedy western told in the vein of MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL. The story focuses on a woman named Aveline who seems to be cursed. Every man she

loves meets a tragic end. Following her husband’s death, Aveline sends her children with her parents to Oregon. Aveline stays behind in Missouri to take care of her comically ill sister, Cora. Aveline gets word her teenage daughter is going to marry an outlaw. So, she and Cora head west with other townspeople to stop the marriage.

GO WEST is professionally made. Sadly, the humor often seems forced, awkward and lame. Also, the story and dialogue are rather weird, even given the fact that the movie is a comedy. GO WEST has some strong moral, pro-family content. There are brief references to the Bible, faith and trusting God. Also, the lead female character is concerned about her daughter and takes care of her sick sister. However, this positive content is marred by lots of scatological humor and some pagan, superstitious, occult content. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises strong caution for GO WEST.

Content:

(PaPa, BB, C, FRFR, OO, Ho, M, N, VV, S, N, A, M)

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Strong mixed pagan worldview in a comical context with some strong moral pro-family elements with brief references to the Bible, faith, trusting God, and Christian duty, lead female character is concerned about her daughter marrying the wrong man and takes care of her sick sister, marred by some pagan, superstitious elements such as references to being cursed and comical views about selling one’s soul to the Devil, plus woman talks to two dead men appearing in the sky from Heaven (one man sold his soul to the Devil but says he crossed his fingers so it didn’t count and says he has omniscient knowledge (which may or may not relate to the Mormon doctrine of becoming a god), and an effeminate dead man seems to have a vague homosexual relationship (it’s not spelled out overtly) with a third dead man who’s supposed to be the renowned frontier folk hero Davey Crocket, although in real life Davey was a brilliant and honorable man of God

Foul Language:

No profanities or obscenities, but there are several creative, non-offensive alternatives to swearing, and there are many, sometimes gross scatological humor throughout the film (including references to dysentery), plus one person says, “Keep it in your bloomers”

Violence:

Strong and light, often comical, violence includes two gunfights, background character is shot, climactic battle with an evil buffalo where the buffalo dies, several characters are implied to have died off-screen, several instances of animal attacks, people accidentally hit in the face, one character tortured with a hot poker, character pours blood out of a boot, cannibalism implied, character dies in quicksand, character is frequently plagued by various debilitating illnesses and injuries that are occasionally graphic (she comically spits up blood suddenly in one scene)

Sex:

Two or so light innuendoes, plus a homosexual reference

Nudity:

Multiple instances of naturalistic upper male nudity (not in a sexual manner), such as one male character never wears a shirt

Alcohol Use:

Characters go to a saloon and drink, but none of them get drunk

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

No smoking or drugs, but one character is addicted to eating pork rinds; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

One of the female characters has a boy name because her father wanted a son, there’s an effeminate male character with an English accent, a character is kidnapped, a character swindles people out of their money and goods, a character sells their child to buy food, several characters make (or are implied to have made) a deal with the Devil, a 15-year-old girl is engaged to be married to older man, and a character proclaims love for a buffalo to avoid a curse.

More Detail:

GO WEST is a wacky comedy western told in the vein of MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL. GO WEST follows the comical misadventures of a cursed widow and her companions as they travel across country in the Old West to save her teenage daughter from marrying an outlaw. It has some strong moral, pro-family content, but the positive content is mixed with lots of unfunny scatological humor and other lame comedy, along with some comical pagan, occult moments.

The movie opens with the narrator, Sean Astin, describing a widow named Aveline Jenkins who was cursed. Her curse made it so that every man she ever loves meets a tragic end. Following the death of her husband, Aveline sends her children with her parents to Oregon. Aveline stays behind in Missouri to take care of her comically ill sister, Cora.

Aveline goes to the general store to buy some salted pork and pick up a letter from her daughter. There, Aveline meets Elijah Goodman, a teacher traveling west, a miserly woman with serious father issues, the shopkeeper, Robert Failure Gladstone. Despite the curse, Aveline and Elijah instantly feel an attraction for each other. Through the letter, Aveline learns that her daughter is getting married to an outlaw she met along the way to Oregon. Aveline determines then and there to go west to save her daughter. In her hurry to save her daughter, Aveline accidentally underpays Robert by half a cent for the salted pork. Robert vows to get the remaining half-cent from Aveline.

Aveline prepares to head west and joins a group of travelers consisting of her sister Cora, Elijah and a host of people from her hometown. Will this motley crew of folks be able to pull together to survive the treacherous trek to Oregon?

The visuals and sound in GO WEST are professionally made, and the music is enjoyable. The set pieces aren’t exactly period for the 1800s, but it’s not always immediately noticeable. Sadly, the humor often seems forced, unintentionally awkward and even lame. Finally, the story and dialogue are definitely weird, even considering the fact that this is a comedy.

GO WEST has some strong moral, pro-family content. For example, it has brief references to the Bible, faith and trusting God. Also, the lead female character is concerned about her teenage daughter and takes care of her sick sister.

However, this positive content is marred by lots of unfunny, tasteless scatological humor and some pagan, superstitious, occult content. For example, the heroine uses her curse to save herself from a rampaging bison by telling the bison she loves it. Furthermore, she talks to two dead men from Heaven wo appear in the sky. One of the men sold his soul to the Devil, but had his fingers crossed at the time, so the deal didn’t count. Also, an epilogue at the end implies that the dead man establishes a homosexual relationship with Davey Crocket in Heaven, although in real life Davey was a brilliant and honorable man of God. So, all in all, MOVIEGUIDE® finds GO WEST excessive.

Moviegoers should note that the movie is created by a comedy troupe that broadcast a comedy skit show on the Cable-TV network run by Brigham Young University, which was founded by the Mormon Church. Also, the story starts in Independence, Missouri, where a trinitarian splinter group of the Mormon Church is based.