A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST

'A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST'

"A Million Ways to Die in the West"  may just be one of a million ways to tell a rom-com story, but it still offers plenty of opportunities for a jaunty laugh.

Seth MacFarlane (“Family Guy” & “Ted”) stars as the cynical and estranged Albert whose girlfriend, played by Amanda Seyfried (“Les Miserables” & “Lovelace”), breaks up with him to date Foy, a suave, tight-assed mustachioed shopkeeper played by Neil Patrick Harris (“How I Met Your Mother” & “Smurfs”).

Albert is left to his own devices, obsessing about the idea that everything that isn’t you is poised to kill you, while coping with the loss of the woman he loves with the help of Giovanni Ribisi (“Ted” & “Gangster Squad”) as Edward, the naive sidekick who’s dating a saloon hooker, played by Sarah Silverman, that he has still not had sex with.

Meanwhile, Albert is serendipitously introduced to the beautiful and mysterious Anna, played by Charlize Theron, who becomes the new object of his affections.

Fart jokes aside the film is pretty entertaining. It retains the usual lowbrow humor that MacFarlane has become known for while telling a story with heart expressing what it means to go through a break-up, realize your own self-worth, and find the strength to move forward.

While MacFarlane and Theron’s characters are given their time to shine and develop, others are introduced and then quickly dispensed with.  Putting it modestly, roles portrayed by Ribisi, Silverman, Seyfried, and Harris are shallow and ancillary at best.

Most of the cast doesn’t get enough screen time to be memorable.  They’re really just there to further MacFarlane’s plot and give him someone to talk to while he figures shit out.

Seth MacFarlane does a fine job of playing Seth MacFarlane.  I wouldn’t exactly say he’s playing it safe, rather just doing what he does best by regurgitating humor made popular by “Family Guy” and “American Dad.”

Liam Neeson (“The Dark Knight Rises” & “Taken”) kicks ass as the straight-laced, sharp-shooting bandit who’s come to town to tear shit up and kill the good guy for macking on his woman.  While comedy runs rampant everywhere else, when Liam Neeson arrives, you’d swear he was playing the same character from “Seraphim Falls,” like anyone has seen that movie let alone even heard of it.

If you’re happy with the jokes you’ve seen a hundred times in MacFarlane’s other work then you’ll have fun with “A Million Ways to Die in the West.” It’s lighthearted, somewhat witty, and I’m not gonna lie, I even found myself laughing out loud at some points.  There are even moments where you find yourself falling for the usual tropes typically exhausted by the romantic comedy genre.  Any guy who has met a girl and had “the feels” only to lose in love can relate to an underdog like Albert.  The real trick for a movie as absurd as “A Million Ways to Die in the West” is the task of making the characters genuine.  While it works for two or three, however, it doesn’t work for all.

I’d give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

It’s not perfect, but it satisfies my need for lowbrow and irreverent humor without having to watch “Family Guy” all over again.