A Million Ways to Die in the West

As a self-indulgent vanity project, A Million Ways to Die in the West showcases the best and worst qualities of Seth MacFarlane.

At times, it’s a clever and inspired lampoon of Western clichés and frontier culture with a bold and raunchy twist. Yet just as often, it’s crass and sophomoric, with an aggressively low-brow approach that undercuts the occasional comic brilliance.

The wildly uneven adventure marks the second feature directorial effort for versatile “Family Guy” creator MacFarlane (Ted), and the first in which he also takes a live-action starring role. He tries to make the most of the opportunity, writing himself an action-hero role in which he also gets the girl and most of the best lines.

The story takes place in a small frontier town in 1882, where Albert (MacFarlane) is a timid sheep farmer whose girlfriend (Amanda Seyfried) leaves him for a rich and mustachioed business owner (Neil Patrick Harris).

In retaliation, Albert takes an interest in Anna (Charlize Theron), an alluring new arrival in town who bulks up Albert’s courage but doesn’t reveal that she’s actually married to a notorious outlaw (Liam Neeson) who returns seeking revenge through a gun-slinging showdown.

There are some scattered big laughs in the freewheeling screenplay, which lacks the satirical edge that Mel Brooks displayed with Blazing Saddles, but still hits the mark with hilarious, sometimes anachronistic takes on Western staples such as bar fights, shooting montages, and a barn dance with a great production number.

It’s worth pointing out that MacFarlane has a great speech near the beginning that ties into the film’s title, outlining the various forms of disease and despair that plague everyday life in the Old West. As expected, he also pushes the envelope with nonchalant jokes about slavery, sexual abuse, and Parkinson’s Disease.

Yet the energy from the first half of the film is compromised by a series of lazy and repetitive gross-out gags — with MacFarlane, you can’t have one without the other — and a desperate final-act attempt to generate sympathy for characters that would rather be laughed at than laughed with. The result squanders the efforts of a talented cast that includes some surprise cameos.

MacFarlane’s legions of fans will no doubt flock to his latest reckless creation with an eagerness to please, but afterward they might just plead with him to keep his day job.

Rated R, 116 minutes.