Friday 30 May 2014

"A Million Ways to Die in the West" (The Guardian 30/05/14)


A Million Ways to Die in the West **
Dir: Seth MacFarlane. With: Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson. 116 mins. Cert: 15

Fans of Ted’s aggressively scattershot misanthropy may be left wanting by Seth MacFarlane’s mock-Western follow-up; spiritually, it’s closer to a mid-range crowdpleaser like City Slickers than Blazing Saddles, too enamoured of genre convention to reach for the comic dynamite. As a sheep farmer who behaves like any other just-dumped fratboy, MacFarlane remains charmlessly needy, even after Charlize Theron’s gunslinger is roped on to reassure him what a catch he is. Warped excellence lurks in the shadows – in the background parade of violent deaths, and Gilbert Gottfried’s cameo as Abe Lincoln – but draggy pacing means the overall hit rate’s down on even late-period Family Guy

A Million Ways to Die in the West opens nationwide today.

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