A MILLION WAYS TO KILL A BUZZ I and my California sons and their girlfriends liked Seth McFarlands new movie A Million Ways to Die in the West when we saw it last week. We laughed hard and often. We like the cameos, the concept, and the casting. It is a pretty good movie that could be great... were it not for McFarlands (he wrote, directed, and starred in it) awkward and lurching pace. Just when the movie gets going and has the audience in its palm, McFarlands insistence on a schmaltzy romantic subtext with Charlize Theron slams the brakes on the momentum as the audience has to suffer through Seths persistent need to channel his inner Kevin James. McFarland wants us to like him. No. He NEEDS us to LOVE him. So he shoves cute and coy on our face with French horns and soft lighting (and kills the mood) just as were having a good time. He can write like a demon, his set ups are rich, he can act, and his comic timing and delivery is accomplished. But he crafted a comedy about the Old West that is terrific and then spoils (some of) it when he tries to slather it with doe - eyed sad faces and some rather tasteless and unnecessary cruelty performed by a way-way-too-bad guy (for a comedy) played by Liam Neeson. So the movie is about 70% slapstick, 20% romantic comedy (urp), and 10% vicious crime drama (eek!). It has about 80 minutes of material smattered along a 120 minute trail. But 80 minutes of comedy aint bad, and the other stuff gives you plenty of time to hit the restroom.
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 04:50:41 +0000
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