‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’ does not always hit it’s mark, but are enough laughs in the film to make it a worthwhile effort on Seth MacFarlane’s part.

After sheep farmer Albert (Seth Macfarlane) backs out of a gunfight, his girlfriend Louise (Amanda Seyfried) leaves him for another man. Soon after, he falls for recent town arrival Anna Leatherwood (Charlize Theron), who brings help in the form of training while also leading her outlaw husband Clinch Leatherwood to town on his mission to get revenge on Albert for being with Anna.

First off, the film is two hours long and could easily lose about twenty minutes without making much of a difference to the film overall. My biggest complaint towards the film is the fact that it isn’t paced very well, and I think some better editing could really help the movie flow better. As it stands, the film is funny, but the aimless editing really makes some parts of the film feel like they drag on and on.

There are a lot of great jokes in the film, and MacFarlane does a satisfactory job delivering them. I liked the fact that the film’s dialogue was modern and snappy alongside the old west backdrop, but at times it feels like MacFarlane is having trouble getting out of his comfort zone. This is his first live film performance, so I expect he will get better after a little more experience on screen.

As for the rest of the cast, there are a lot of great performances. Sarah Silverman can be kind of polarizing to some, but I thought she was hilarious as old west prostitute Ruth. Giovanni Ribisi was also good as Edward, but I would have loved to see him play a character that gets a little more to do. He has some serious comedy chops, but ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’ doesn’t really use him to his full potential. There are some of the best cameo’s I have seen in this film since the Muppet movies, but they are too good to spoil here.

As a whole, ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’ was definitely worth the watch. It was not always sharp, and some jokes get repeated past the point of being funny, but there are still plenty of laughs to be had over the films 2 hour running time.

4 out of 5 Stars