Review: A Million Ways To Die In The West

As a cowardly farmer begins to fall for the mysterious new woman in town, he must put his new-found courage to the test when her husband, a notorious gun-slinger, announces his arrival.

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Seth MacFarlane saw some reasonable success with 2012's Ted but is his new frontier comedy fine as cream gravy or is it up the spout?

MacFarlane plays a cowardly sheep farmer called Albert Stark who is down in the dumps from his recent break up with his girlfriend Louise (Amanda Seyfried). His only friends, a simpleton named Edward (Giovani Ribisi) and his prostitute girlfriend Ruth (Sarah Silverman), try to lift Albert's spirits but to no avail. It's only when Albert befriends the new woman in town Anna (Charlize Theron), who teaches him how to shoot, that he begins to perk up again and feelings between the two develop. However what Albert doesn't know is Anna is married to one of the deadliest gunman in the region, Clinch Leatherwood (Liam Neeson). When Clinch get's wind of his wife's relationship to Albert he set's out to challenge him to a gunfight, but will Albert sum up the courage to fight for the woman he loves?

The story in the film is nothing new and is so cliche that you would know how it ends from the first 20 minutes. The jokes are hit and miss but do leave you with more laughs than you would expect. Seth MacFarlane's first live-action appearance fall's flat and he come's across more preachy than funny, which makes you feel like a more believable actor would have served the story better. Charlize Theron put's in an average performance and Liam Neeson plays a one-dimensional villain.

There are some nice little surprises such as Back To The Future's Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) working on the DeLorean in a shed, Ryan Reynolds getting shot and even Jamie Foxx as Django making an appearance. 

However Seth MacFarlane's mock-western doesn't live up to the hype and comes out barely rememberable. It's a shame because I enjoyed Ted a lot and was hoping MacFarlane would deliver on this film. If you're looking to waste two hours of free time then give it a go but, like me, you'll find that it's nothing special.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆      

By Matthew Trick