| The edgiest jokes that are most likely to offend all too often become the territory of supporting characters played by Silverman and Theron rather than MacFarlane, and the shift is conspicuous for anyone accustomed to his carefree irreverence in the Family Guy television series | There's nothing inherently wrong with jokes about poo, vomiting, farting or sexual intercourse, but you have to package them in a certain way to stop the comedy becoming about shock value for shock value's sake |
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| In A Million Ways, Macfarlane has set his sights far lower than Brooks did even at his low point in the 1990s | A Million Ways to Die in the West is a disappointingly scattershot affair which will entertain Macfarlane fans but leave the rest of us with half-remembered frustration |
And in that same grand tradition of parodies, the story runs secondary to the opportunity for comedy, with MacFarlane playing a poor sheep-farmer who attempts to win back the love of his life from the wealthy proprietor of the local moustachery Neil Patrick Harris with the help of a beautiful newcomer in town Charlize Theron.
5| Its central premise and its cast both have undoubted potential, but every good idea it has is quickly ground down into third-rate physical or scatalogical jokes which are poorly directed, have no staying power, and are offensive for all the wrong reasons | Upgrade your lifestyle Digital Trends helps readers keep tabs on the fast-paced world of tech with all the latest news, fun product reviews, insightful editorials, and one-of-a-kind sneak peeks |
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| Just below that it reads "Ticket Confirmation :" followed by a 10-digit number | In spite of all this, it would be wrong to describe A Million Ways as an abject failure |
His direction is to westerns what Chris Columbus was to Harry Potter, with the camera remaining so static that we can tell when a joke is being set up just by looking at a given shot for more than a second.
| John Waters knew this, Mel Brooks knew this, even the Farrelly Brothers knew this - but clearly it's something that Macfarlane still has to learn | Equally, he could have taken Liam Neeson's ruthless, lugubrious villain and subverted the concept, making him a complete coward or someone who is misunderstood |
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| But no matter how many jokes he can produce, or how long he chooses to play these jokes out for, they cannot solve the underlying problems: the story and the characters | And by producing it, alongside good friends Scott Stuber and Jason Clark, there is no-one to rein him in when he starts being narratively flatulent as well as comedically so |
However, a beautiful, pistol-packing woman named Anna Charlize Theron rides into town and helps Albert find his inner courage.
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