A Millions Ways To Die In The West

A Million Ways To Die In The West is proof positive that Seth Macfarlane can now do whatever he wants; whatever concept, whatever script, he is given absolutely full license here.

Unfortunately, what that means is this script has clearly not been checked for actual jokes and it's certainly about 20 minutes too long.

Yes, Ted was a triumph and Family Guy is brilliantly written but Seth seems to have lost his way a tad here, he clearly relishes the screen time (he's actually in this one) but too many long, convoluted speeches fall very flat.

His supporting cast do their best (Sarah Silverman and Giovanni Ribisi are excellent as a couple who won't have sex before marriage despite Silverman's character being a prostitute) but they all have to sit on the sidelines for long periods whilst Macfarlane places himself firmly centre stage.

To be fair, you could listen to his voice all day long and there are some laugh-out-loud moments but an over-reliance on toilet humour just won't cut it.

One thing to be admired is his rigid adherence to a setting and story that actually makes the entire film (despite the gratuitous violence) seem like a family-friendly blockbuster comedy (much like a certain other wild west set film that is fantastically paid tribute to here.) In fact, the cameos are easily the best thing about this (stick around at the end for a nice Tarantino referencing one.)

When all is said and done though a comedy will live or die on its jokes and this doesn't quite deliver on that front.

2 stars **