A Million Ways to Die in the West

In 1882 Arizona, a sheep rancher (Seth McFarlane, who also directed and co-wrote with Alec Sulkind and Wellesley Wild) meets a new lady in town (Charlize Theron), not knowing she's the wife of a vicious outlaw (Liam Neeson). Unlike Mel Brooks with Blazing Saddles, McFarlane doesn't spoof Western movie conventions: Being under 50, he barely knows what they are. His movie is more of a raunchy sex comedy with guns, horses and old-fashioned clothes. McFarlane and Theron make a sweetly appealing couple, and many of the gags are hilarious; trimming the almost equal number that misfire would have kept the movie from outlasting its welcome. Amanda Seyfried is wasted as McFarlane's ex-girlfriend, but Neil Patrick Harris is fun as her new squeeze, likewise Giovanni Ribisi and Sarah Silverman as yet another couple.