West' could be worse in Seth MacFarlane's 'Million Ways'

• Courtesy of Universal Pictures
• SHEEP THRILLS: Seth MacFarlane in 'A Million Ways to Die in the West'

Forty years ago, the farting around the campfire scene of Blazing Saddles announced the start of a new era in film comedy. Opening the door for raunchy big-screen gags based on bodily functions, Mel Brooks' Western spoof ushered in not a cinematic Golden Age or Bronze Age, but arguably a Brown Age.

A Million Ways to Die in the West, Seth MacFarlane's new Western spoof, shows how far we've come in four decades by plopping an elaborate diarrhea gag in the midst of a High Noon-style showdown. But while MacFarlane's follow-up to his risqué 2012 hit Ted eagerly traffics in tasteless humor, he seems to be merely trying to keep up with the likes of Adam Sandler, the Farrelly Brothers and the "South Park" guys, as opposed to out-grossing them - close-ups of urinating sheep notwithstanding.

In fact, A Million Ways shows a surprising level of affection for the cowboy genre. At times, MacFarlane - who directed, co-wrote the script and played the leading man - puts the jokes aside to soak up the Wild West conventions and wide open spaces over nearly two hours. With some likable performances and an adequate supply of laughs, Million Ways may not hit the bullseye, but it's not a complete misfire either.

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MacFarlane plays mild-mannered sheep farmer Albert Stark, a name that prepares you for a Tony Stark reference that never happens. Living in an Arizona town in 1882, Albert maintains an abiding, somewhat anachronistic loathing of the West and its countless lethal dangers. His shameless cowardice in an early scene costs him his girlfriend Louise (Amanda Seyfried, who takes jokes about her big eyes in stride). She takes up with Foy (Neil Patrick Harris) the preening owner of a local mustache parlor, which later sets up a song-and-dance number about facial hair based on an actual Stephen Foster song.

Heartbroken Albert chances to befriend newcomer Anna (Charlize Theron), who's not just a good-humored knockout but a crack shot willing to train him for a gun duel with Foy so he can win back Louise. Alert doesn't realize that Anna is the incognito wife of notorious outlaw Clinch Leatherwood (Liam Neeson).

Coming from the creator of "Family Guy" and its related series, Million Ways features multiple cameos and pop references, but not as many as you'd expect. Instead, it offers some decent running jokes about topics like 19th century photography and the medical profession, along with ickily amusing sight gags and one-liners about the town's high mortality rate: "Our old schoolmarm got her throat slit by a fast-moving tumbleweed." The ironic humor about minority groups, supposedly satirizing period racism, feels like perfunctory stabs at being "outrageous."

If you dislike the trope of stunningly beautiful women falling for average-looking guys, you'll be annoyed by the budding romance of Albert and Anna, even though Theron gives her character a just-one-of-the-guys approachability. A highly entertaining but underused Sarah Silverman plays to her obliviously offensive persona as a prostitute who describes graphic sex acts with a matter-of-fact shrug, but won't sleep with her virginal beau (Giovanni Ribisi).

Surrounded by such a solid ensemble, MacFarlane's main drawback in casting was tapping himself as the lead. He's tall, wholesome-looking and disquietingly dark-eyed, to the point that he doesn't come across as a naturally sympathetic nebbish like Woody Allen, and doesn't have the comedic presence to curry the audience's favor, like Bob Hope did in Western comedies like The Paleface. He's confident on-screen and has a resonant voice, but seems better suited for playing douchey bosses or romantic rivals like Foy.

Given MacFarlane's seemingly limitless energy and ambition as a pop satirist, the Western seems a strange choice for a feature film - it's like the opposite of a cutting-edge subject. The genre's not dead, exactly, although it's unlikely to ever match its popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. A couple of Westerns still turn up every year, but they're highly self-conscious about the form's history and decline, so they're either joke versions or dark deconstructions like The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Even the loving throwbacks like 3:10 to Yuma seem self-aware.

With A Million Ways to Die in the West, MacFarlane alternates between putting the Western up on a pedestal and filling its cowboy hat with cow flop. The results are funny enough, but won't set many saddles ablaze.

A Million Ways to Die in the West. 3 stars. Directed by Seth MacFarlane. Stars Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron. Rated R. Opens May 30. At area theaters.