|
|
|
|
|
In 2012, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane had a box office hit with his quirky crude comedy, Ted. Now, in the follow-up, A Million Ways to Die in the West, the comic writer, director, and star takes his sophomoric sense of humor back to a time of rowdy saloons and ruthless gunfighters.
This slapstick western comedy tells the story of Albert Stark (MacFarlane), a cowardly sheep farmer living in 1880’s Arizona. When his girlfriend, Louise (Amanda Seyfried), dumps him for the smooth and stylish Foy (Neil Patrick Harris), Albert is absolutely devastated.
Just as Albert is about to leave the hot, dirty, dangerous frontier, he meets Anna (Charlize Theron), who’s just arrived in town with her brother. Anna offers to help Albert win Louise back by teaching him to shoot, but what he doesn’t know is that his beautiful new tutor is married to Clinch (Liam Neeson), the deadliest gunfighter in the West—and spending time with her is putting his life at risk.
You don’t have to be a 12-year-old boy to enjoy MacFarlane’s latest comedy, but it definitely couldn’t hurt. Despite its grown-up R rating, A Million Ways to Die in the West is about as immature as it gets. The humor tends to lean strongly toward the sexual and the scatological, with the occasional touches of over-the-top gore thrown in for kicks. So if you share MacFarlane’s juvenile sense of humor, then you’ll most likely enjoy it. If not, you’ll get a few chuckles out of the first 30 minutes or so before eventually tiring of the same old poop jokes.
At times, the film feels more like a series of self-conscious stand-up performances (“Bustles! What’s up with that?”) than a cohesive story. Most of the jokes don’t really fit within the setting, and the comedy feels awkward and forced. MacFarlane tends to deliver his lines with a smug, self-aware smirk, as if he’s giving his audience a little nudge—just to make sure that they’re laughing when they’re supposed to be laughing.
The story, meanwhile, is rambling and uneven. In fact, it’s really more like two stories than one: a story about Albert’s quest to win Louise back and a story about Albert’s budding romance with Anna (and his race to escape her husband’s wrath). The first story works relatively well, but the second one is unnecessary—and it goes on much too long.
The film’s biggest problem, it seems, is that there’s no one to rein MacFarlane in. He has some amusing comic moments—and he directs his cast remarkably well—but he doesn’t seem to realize that his story is a mess and his own performance is generally grating and uncomfortable. With a little bit of outside assistance, this wild west comedy could have been a fun-filled low-brow adventure—instead of an awkward mess with just a few bright spots.
Of course, MacFarlane’s devoted fans will still get their fair share of belly laughs from this crude comedy. But, with its long-winded story and repetitive gags, A Million Ways to Die in the West is a film that only a fan could love.
Listen to the audio review on Reel Discovery:
|
|
|
|
