New MacFarlane comedy earns tepid reviews

Following the successful comedy hit ‘Ted’, Seth MacFarlane is back with ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’.

Once again, the 40-year old co-wrote, produced, directed and acted in the film.

As the title suggests, the movie contains a number of grizzly, comedic deaths – each scene carefully choreographed says MacFarlane.

“It is tricky to get slapstick right,” he says. “Particularly when you’re dealing with something like this where the slapstick requires oftentimes very dangerous stunt work. The stunt guys love it. They loved the fact that, you know, they’re doing these stunts but at the same time they’re doing it in the interests of comedy, that these stunts are hopefully going to get laughs and they all did.”

MacFarlane plays sheep farmer Albert who, after being dumped by his girlfriend, tries to woo her back by pretending he’s having an affair with glamourous Anna, played by Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron.

“I think I’m always nervous in the beginning and I think that’s a good thing, you know?” she says. “I think it’s when you’re just kind of (waves arms) that you should worry. There was a lot of stuff I was nervous about you know. The tone is a huge part of a film and wanting to understand what that tone is and how to play in that world and just not knowing off the bat, I mean we had spent a lot of time talking about how I saw the character and I thought we were on it. But you always have that, you know, like nightmare. It’s like going to work naked – you show up and you’re like ‘Wait, you want me to do this with a Spanish accent?’ You always have a bit of that.”

The film has opened to rather bleak reviews with one critic describing it as “a joyless vanity project”, while another called it “an unamusing tumbleweed” that “fires nothing but blanks”.

‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’ is on worldwide release now.