Film Review – A Million Ways To Die In The West
A Million Ways To Die In The West (MA)
Directed by: Seth MacFarlane
Starring: Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron, Amanda Seyfried, Liam Neeson
Three and a half stars
Review by: Julian Wright
Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane shows little signs of expanding his comedic horizons with his second film as a director A Million Ways To Die In The West as he trots out a two-hour barrage of envelope pushing poo, fart, penis and sex jokes. But amid the smut is some great pop-culture nods, cameos and light-weight digs at religion and the almost forgotten western genre.
When sheep farmer Albert (Seth MacFarlane) is dumped by his girlfriend Louise (Amanda Seyfried) because she wants “to find herself” he tries desperately to win her back. His efforts are supported by the new hottie in town Anna (Charlize Thereon) with whom he strikes up a friendship. The sassy scorcher poses as his new girlfriend to make Louise see what she is missing out on. Little does Albert know is that Anna is the wife of the most dangerous man in the region, Clinch (Liam Neeson) who is hell-bent on bringing his posse to town.
MacFarlane builds the majority of his film on his juvenile sense of humour, so if you are after high brow laughs, you may want to steer clear. His film works better when he isn’t showing sheep peeing in his face or a proper, moustached man (Neil Patrick Harris) pooping into a man’s hat. There are some comedic low points, but this western spoof of sorts also has some huge belly laughs. Banter between the meek Edward (Giovanni Ribisi) and his chirpy prostitute girlfriend Ruth (Sarah Silverman) are major highlights – her job requires her to have sex with a minimum of 10 men per day but she wont sleep with him because they are Christians and are not married yet.
Theron gets a rare chance for broad comedy and although she is mainly eye candy next to the riffing MacFarlane, has a few bright spots with some choice zingers. Seyfried pales in comparison to the rest of the cast, but is a good sport to allow constant jabs at her large eyes. MacFarlane scrapes by as a watchable screen presence but his rapid fire riffing comes off as imitative of Vince Vaughn. A string of blink and you miss them cameos range from hilarious to hilariously nonsensical.
If you can stomach the bodily fluids, A Million Ways To Die In The West will satisfy with a considerable number of chuckles and chortles.
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