BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
The dude that brought us “Family Guy”, a few other lame cartoons, and the movie “Ted” brings us a western comedy. I thought “Ted” was a fun movie but I’ve never liked “Family Guy” of the other stuff he’s put out there. He seems like a good guy, but his humor typically doesn’t connect with me. He’s just not my thing. When the promo came around for this new western comedy I was instantly turned off. When your commercials say “Greatest Western Comedy of All Time” it’s basically saying “this movie is better than Blazing Saddles”. I find that hard to believe. It could have been a movie by people I am a big fan of like a Will Ferrell, Seth Rogen, and others and I’d still not buy into that massive hype. Blazing Saddles is one of the best movies of all time. This movie was not even in the same ballpark as Blazing Saddles or even Back to the Future 3. The cast was awesome. We get the likes of Charlize Theron, Amanda Seyfried, Neil Patrick Harris, Giovanni Ribisi, Sarah Silverman, and Liam Neeson all showing support for Seth MacFarlane’s lead. Seth just isn’t a likable lead. He’s not that charming or engaging. He plays the role like a 1990’s Jason Lee or a Ryan Reynolds but lacks the swagger to make it work. The jokes of the movie are funny and the story is good enough, but it’s not carried well. It’s not the funniest movie out there right now, that a lone “funniest western comedy of all time”. The jokes are repetitive and I honestly think it would have been a better Family Guy episode or movie. It’s almost two hours long and by half way through it’s a bit of a drag. They go through three main plots and cram a lot into the movie. It almost felt like a season one for a TV show that didn’t get picked up. The cameos rocked, the supporting cast rocked, and it was well produced and directed. The whole “this Wild West stuff is silly” self-referential meta tone falls flat. There is no real payoff and it all just sorta ends. No big laugh. No developing jokes. Just a big heaping helping of “well, that’s that”. It just didn’t leave me with any desire to ever watch it again or to tell anyone I know to watch it. If anyone asks me I’d tell them to skip it or wait until it’s on cable so they can half pay attention and turn it off without losing any money or time. There are a million ways to better spend your time. C-
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