Above: Seth MacFarlane and Charlize Theron try to blaze some saddles
In
an ideal comedy, the humor and the story work together to create the best movie-going
experience possible. Basically, the humor scenes move the plot or character
elements forward, while the story scenes still make the audience laugh – they
need to in order for the movie to work, like a three-legged race. But in “A
Million Ways to Die in the West” – the sophomore film effort from “Family Guy”
creator Seth MacFarlane – humor and story instead play a game of leapfrog,
awkwardly taking turns entertaining the audience and leaving the whole film
feeling like an oddly paced, disjointed mess.
I spent, like, a day coming up with
that analogy and I still don’t know if it’s any damn good. Tell you what: You
guys try to come up with something better while I explain the plot.
In the frontier town of Old Stump,
AZ, circa 1882, sheep farmer Albert Stark (Mr. MacFarlane) has a problem: he’s
a sane, modern thinker whose painfully aware of how backwards, violent, and
deadly his surroundings are. When his rationality is mistaken for cowardice,
his sweetheart (Amanda Seyfried) leaves him for a mustachioed gentleman (Neil
Patrick Harris). Albert challenges him to a duel for the hand of his girl, and
receives help from Anna (Charlize Theron), an outlaw hiding out in Old Stump
who takes a shine to Albert. However, Anna’s deadly gunslinger husband (Liam
Neeson) will be riding into town soon and brining a whole mess of trouble with
him.
In addition to this setup, “A
Million Ways” does have some things going for it, including its cast. Mr.
MacFarlane is at least serviceable as the lead, committing full-on to the
slapstick he and co-writers Alec Sulkin and Wellesly Wild have put into their
script. There are also some fun turns from Giovanni Ribisi and Sarah Silverman
as Albert’s friends, as well as some fabulous celebrity cameos that are
actually quite funny. The real standout, however, turns out to be Ms. Theron.
She calmly and coolly owns every scene she’s in, switching from comedy mode to
serious mode without breaking a sweat. Her restrained but pitch-perfect
performance turns out to be one of the highlights of the film.
By contrast, the most film’s bizarre
performance turns out to be from Liam Neeson, who ironically plays the most
normal character in the movie – his notorious outlaw Clinch Leatherwood is
every bit as intimidating as a traditional Old West villain. But that’s the
main problem – he seems like he wandered off the set of an actual
western by mistake, and as a result his “Million Ways” scenes feel strangely
humorless. Whether Mr. Neeson plays him too straight or the script mishandles
the character, I don’t know, but he feels very out of place in the proceedings.
That said, the movie is excellent when
it comes to mimicking the look of a classic western. Wide shots of Monument
Valley and a sweeping, adventure-y score by Joel McNeely do give the sensation
that you’re watching a funnier version of a John Ford movie. However, as I’ve
said earlier on this site, a comedy must be measured by whether or not it’s
funny, and unfortunately, “A Million Ways” just isn’t funny enough. The humor
skews to the lowbrow, and while I’m perfectly happy to laugh at a well executed
cuss word or poop joke, I can understand if that sort of thing will turn
someone else off. And again, the movie is oddly paced. Scenes feel forced to end
on a joke – rather than evolving plot or character, the writers just shove in
something funny at the end of many scenes and cut to the next one. Worst of
all, I’m sad to say that most of the movie’s best jokes are given away in the
trailers.
So, much as I’m a fan of Mr.
MacFarlane’s shows (well, one of them. “American Dad” is still pretty consistent)
and his debut film “Ted,” “A Million Ways to Die in the West” just feels like a
misstep. If you’re itching for a funny trip to the Old West, maybe go watch
“Blazing Saddles” again instead, but you can probably skip Mr. MacFarlane’s
uneven mess.
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