A Million Ways To Die, much more than the infinitely superior Ted, plays like an extended Family Guy episode, and not even one of the good ones. McFarlane plays a sheep farmer, living in a bad standup bit about how dumb things were in the old west, who has just been dumped by his girlfriend played by Amanda Sifreid. Theron & Neeson play a husband and wife outlaw couple and wouldn't you know it, she just doesn't like living on the wrong side of the law anymore. She and McFarlane meet cute and away we go with a story that's way to silly to be engaging and thoroughly detracts from the actual fun parts of film involving Ribisi, Silverman and Neil Patrick Harris.
A hodgepodge of mildly funny slapstick and hit you over the head style of joke telling that McFarlane is known for, AMWTDITW just never seems to find it's stride as a movie or as a vehicle for humor, it's just too all over the place. Neeson is barely in it and while the leads try their damnedest to make the story engaging in a meaningful way, it just isn't. It almost feels like the film was a thrown together afterthought, which is odd considering the amount of star power.
Like I said earlier, there's some funny stuff, but almost all of it comes from the supporting cast who get very little screen time once the main story starts and as the film drug on I was much more interested in seeing them than the main players.
There may be a million ways to die in the west, but not enough of em are funny.
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