Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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JUNE 18-24, 2014 UCW 17 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM So, I may be outing myself as both a control freak that lacks impulse control and movie nerd, but a few hours after I saw the trailer for A Millions Ways to Die in the West (116 minutes) I was at a bookstore, saw the novelization and immediately read it. Even knowing that the jokes probably wouldn't be as funny without the verbal timing and comic inflections of the film, I was still compelled to have at it — and I admit it took me less time to read the book than watch the film. My two favorite comedy westerns are the James Garner classics Support Your Local Sheriff and Support Your Local Gunfighter, so I was hoping the physical comedy bits would be more like those films and less like the eating beans around the campfire bit in Blazing Saddles, while hanging on to the McFarlane stable of celebrity cameos. I'd say I got what I wanted for the most part, watching Dr. Doogie Howser use another man's hat for a toilet not withstanding. The film opens in 1882. Albert Stark (Seth MacFarlane) is dumped by his girlfriend Louise (Amanda Seyfried) and sinks into despair. Meanwhile, infamous outlaw Clinch Leatherwood (Liam Neeson) and his gang are planning to rob something, so he sends one of his men to escort his wife Anna (Charlize Theron) to Albert's home town of Old Stump. Anna arrives in town just in time to meet Albert, who saves her from a drunken brawl. She offers to attend the local fair with him in order to make Louise jealous, but that sort of backfires. Louise and her new boyfriend Foy (Neil Patrick Harris) run into the two, which leads to a fight between Foy and Albert. If you're interested, this is where the Ewan McGregor cameo appears — and he's hard to spot. The two end up arranging a duel, and since Albert is such a pathetic shot, Anna invites him to a training montage so he can learn some gunplay. Over the course of the week the two become close, so Albert is understandably upset when he finds out that she is married. Hijinks ensue, but in the end Albert wins the girl prize because in movies women can get rid of bad boyfriends by getting new boyfriends. One final thought. Seth McFarlane is an equal opportunity comic and he really does try to offend everyone to some degree. That's on purpose, I get it, I laugh at his horribly offensive jokes as much as the next viewer. It's funny because it makes us uncomfortable. But after watching this, I really wish he had put more thought into the character of Anna. He sets her up to serve as the straight "man" to his cowardly sheep farmer, and her ability to laugh along with the jokes provides the audience with a tacit female approval that serves as permission for us to laugh, too. But, and this is a pretty big but, it seems like she stays married to Clinch for no real reason. I mean, she's confident, amoral, manipulative, clever AND an amazing shot. Yet, Clinch lives through several scenes where she could have easily killed him. Overall, I think MacFarlane's Ted was the more successful film on a number of levels. The comic styling of Family Guy translated more effectively and the ensemble cast was stronger. If MacFarlane made a major booboo, it was in choosing to write, direct and act — it seems like he can do two of those things at the same time with reasonable skill, but when he goes for the trifecta the overall effect is lackluster. Incorporating a female perspective via writing or directing would have softened some of the misogyny, some more creative camera work would offer some pizazz, and a script doctor could have tightened up some of the dialogue. At the end of the day, West made me laugh almost as much as Ted, and it's certainly worth a couple of hours on a Saturday afternoon. A Comedy Western! It's Been a While A Million Ways to Die in the West (Rated R) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@upand- comingweekly.com. 910.484.6200. Corporate Sponsors: Utley & Knowles CPAs COMING SOON! Up & Coming Weekly's 17th Annual Best of Fayetteville Awards Who will be this year's "Best of the Best"? Ballots available in the next editions of Up & Coming Weekly or Vote Online! www.upandcomingweekly.com Check out the details on the Best of Fayetteville Awards Party on September 16th. Mark your calendars for the fun and vote for your favorite people, businesses, organizations and venues. PRIMARY LOGO & IDENTITY GUIDELINES Standard Times New Roman Minimum Logo Width - 1.5" 1.5" is the safest minimum size for the primary logo. Minimum Alt. Logo Width - 1" 1" is the safest minimum printed size for the alternate logo. FONTS USED IN LOGOTYPE ALTERNATIVE LOGO VERSIONS & SPECIFICATIONS 1234567890 !@£$%^&*()-=+ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ