‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’ Review: Seth MacFarlane shoots but misses
Far removed from the successes of Family Guy still recycling pop culture references to keep the show’s cult followers coming back for more, Seth MacFarlane follows the successful Ted with a western comedy in A Million Way to Die in the West.
MacFarlane writes and directs a tale where he stars as the cowardly farmer set to face the town’s baddie, played by Liam Neeson, as he swoons the new girl in town (Charlize Theron) and juggles his love for Louise (Amanda Seyfried.) MacFarlane showcases his talents early on as he, as Albert, talks his way out of getting killed by the badguy.
It’s easy to get yourself killed in Old Stump, but MacFarlane only finds mindless ways of making you laugh. The town virgin and town whore are getting hitched because “We’re Christians” wasn’t insulting enough for one joke, but had to be repeated a second time.
Sight gags are the key to that belly laugh as MacFarlane pushes that non-politically correct humor from family: a runaway slave shooting gallery and sheep jokes made me wish Mel Brooks would just jump in and save the day.
Brooks is still the master of fart jokes by the way and a ton of cameos can’t save this picture. Theron isn’t given anything really to work with as the story is more like a string of skits set in the wild west. The Indian drug sequence ruined in the trailers gets worse, so the only fans of this film will be those who haven’t seen the teasers.
Overall A Million Way to Die in the West gets 1 1/2 stars out of 5
Actress Challen Cates discusses her experience on the film, working with the stars etc…check out that interview HERE
