'A Million Ways to Die in the West' has hit-or-miss comedy
If you measure a comedy by how many times you laughed, Seth聽MacFarlane鈥檚 鈥淎 Million Ways to Die in the West,鈥� at least for me, is a middling聽success. If you measure a comedy by how many misfires it has, then this 聽film is a failure. It鈥檚 a hit-or-miss extravaganza 鈥� a western spoof that聽tries to make 鈥�Blazing Saddles鈥� look tame by comparison. In more ways聽than one, MacFarlane is trying to outgross Mel Brooks.
This is not, to put it mildly, an exalted ambition. After all, if you鈥檝e聽heard one fart joke, you鈥檝e heard 'em all. (There are a million ways to聽do more than die in this film.) And MacFarlane, in his first leading live-action role, is such a weightless presence that he blands out almost every聽scene he鈥檚 in.聽
He鈥檚 playing Albert, a cowardly sheep farmer in 1882 Arizona whose聽girlfriend (Amanda Seyfried) has just dumped him for the town鈥檚 scurvy聽mustache-grooming magnate (Neil Patrick Harris). But true love beckons聽in the hourglass form of Anna (Charlize Theron), a moll masquerading as聽an upstanding new neighbor but who is, in fact, married to the territory鈥檚聽most vicious gunslinger (Liam Neeson). Theron gives this movie its (sole)聽touch of class.聽
MacFarlane also produced, directed, and co-wrote this film, so you聽can鈥檛 say he was just a hired hand. I wasn鈥檛 a big fan of 鈥淭ed,鈥� one of聽the smash comedies of recent years, but it was more irreverent than 鈥淎聽Million Ways to Die in the West,鈥� which, even when it鈥檚 making icky jokes about a聽saloon prostitute (Sarah Silverman), is curiously chaste. MacFarlane's talent聽鈥� or at least his appeal 鈥� is that he gift-wraps scurrility as wholesome聽family entertainment.
My tolerance for gross-out humor is higher than the average pointy-headed critic鈥檚, and, out of self-preservation, I have trained myself to take聽my pleasures where I find them in these lumpy jamborees. But maybe we聽would all be better off if we simply sat through a best-moments trailer聽instead. Grade:聽B- (Rated R for strong crude and sexual content, language throughout, some violence and drug material.)聽
