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A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014)

Director:
Seth MacFarlane
COUNTRY
USA
GENRE
Western/Comedy
NORWEGIAN TITLE
A Million Ways to Die in the West
RUNNING TIME
116 minutes
Producer:
Seth MacFarlane
Scott Stuber
Screenwriter:
Seth MacFarlane
Alec Sulkin
Wellesley Wild


Cast includes:

CHARACTER ACTOR/ACTRESS RATING
Albert Stark Seth MacFarlane
Anna Barnes-Leatherwood Charlize Theron
Louise Amanda Seyfried
Clinch Leatherwood Liam Neeson ½
Edward Giovanni Ribisi ½
Foy Neil Patrick Harris ½
Ruth Sarah Silverman
George Stark Christopher Hagen
Cochise Wes Studi
Millie Alex Borstein
Lewis Evan Jones
Cameos Christopher Lloyd
Bill Maher
Ewan McGregor
Jamie Foxx
Ryan Reynolds

 

Review

Seth MacFarlane returns to live action filmmaking (his second film, after Ted in 2012), this time mocking the old westerns. And while there's arguably quite a few ways to die and some creative moments in here, the title is more of an exaggeration than was probably intended. MacFarlane delivers great observational humour as always – and he should have kept that coming, because the story is completely unremarkable and painfully slow-moving. For some reason, MacFarlane seems desperate to infuse his film with romance and warmheartedness, which, to be honest, never has been his strongest suit, not even on Family Guy. I guess it's hard to resist the temptation of being Charlize Theron's leading man, but the dramatic value he tries to add here falls mostly flat, and the film suffers greatly from it. The highlights aren't bountiful, but they are there for fans willing to sit this out. One is a delightful turn by Neil Patrick Harris, another is Alex Borstein, who is sadly underused.

Copyright © 11.3.2015 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang

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