I love Seth MacFarlene to death but I have to admit this felt like his weakest project. I was so excited when I heard about this and the fact it was his follow up to Ted, which is really funny if you haven't checked that out. I found many things that held this one back and not as great as Ted.
Seth co-produces, co-writes, directs and stars in this spoof-ish western tale. The one thing I like about Seth's directing is that he can set tone very well and this is no exception. In terms of the western feel and setting, I believed he nailed it, however, this is a comedy so you judge it but it's humor and jokes and how they hit or miss with you. I have to say, overall, I enjoyed myself and about seventy-five percent of the jokes hit and twenty-five percent missed with me. For the most part, I was laughing a lot an sometimes crying from it. But some of the humor was to juvenile for me and was raunchy for the sake of being raunchy. I am all for raunch and I liked most of it in the film, it's just some didn't work for me.
The acting is good from the supporting cast but what you are really focusing on is Seth. He has never put himself in front of the camera before as a leading character. Ted doesn't count because it was his voice and body movements and he wasn't physically there. I have to say I bought him as a main character sometimes. At points, I saw just Seth and at others I saw a character. I think if he goes down the path of being in front of the camera, he can do it he just needs to practice. Like I said the supporting, including: Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson, Neil Patrick Harris etc, do a great job filling the comedic voids. Seth is a funny guy and he delivers his lines well but the problem was escaping into his character more consistently.
The cinematography is really great to look at. They captured the Wild West with gorgeous wide landscape shots and rustic, dirty look of the town.
The editing is where another problem lies. The movie is about two hours long and it doesn't need to be. If it was chopped by twenty minutes that would have been perfect. I felt it dragging towards the end but the jokes kept it going for me.
The music was really upbeat to listen to as it captured the west in a fun, satire feel. It was actually one of my favorite parts.There are a lot of cameos and references to other films which I enjoyed.
Overall I really enjoyed this movie. It ran a bit to long, Seth needs to work at being a lead role and some of the jokes didn't hit for me, however I still had a fun time watching it and was crying laughing in some parts. If you like Family Guy or Ted I would say check it out. If you hate them please go hide in your home and lock the door. 6.5/10
(Review by Chase Lee)
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