A Million Ways to Die in the West

In the two years since Ted, the once and future saviour of comedy Seth McFarlane has seen his popularity diminish somewhat: he hosted one of the more forgettable Oscar ceremonies in some time, his live-action sitcom Dads was cancelled before the end of the its first season; The Cleveland Show was also cancelled at the end of its fourth season, and Family Guy has gone the way of The Simpsons - sporadically funny, but just a shadow of its former glory.

For his big screen acting debut (no counting Ted’s mo-cap’ing), McFarlane puts himself front and centre, playing crappy sheep-farmer Albert, who has just been dumped by his girlfriend Louise (Seyfried) for not being manly enough. Just as he’s given up hope, in wanders new arrival Anna (Theron), who takes pity on poor Albert and decides to help him become a better cowboy and hopefully win Louise back. Of course, Albert and Anna start to slowly fall for each other, which is a problem since Anna is actually the wife of the most dangerous outlaw in the west, Clinch Steelwood (Neeson).

Any comedy set against the backdrop of the Wild West is automatically going to court comparisons to Blazing Saddles, which A Million Ways pales against. In fact, A Million Ways even pales against Ted, as while there are a fair few zingy one-liners ("She had her throat cut by a passing tumbleweed"), there are very few laugh out loud moments.

What’s surprising then is just how competent A Million Ways is if you subtract the comedy elements. Albert and Anna have some fantastic chemistry together, their romantic subplot shining through far stronger than the countless fart and poop jokes that McFarlane drops into the script. There are more laughs to be had from the supporting characters - Giovanni Ribisi as the horny fiancé of Sarah Silverman’s prostitute who won’t have sex with him until their wedding night, Neil Patrick Harris as a moustache obsessed Casanova - or the countless celebrity cameos than the main story itself, which gives Neeson and Theron some solid but oddly humourless roles.

A Million Ways To Die In The West proves that McFarlane The Actor and McFarlane The Director have potential to spare, but McFarlane The Writer seems to be running on empty. Here’s hoping next year’s Ted 2 helps him rediscover his funny bone.