Limp-wristed stab at frontier humour

IF expletive-laced dialogue, bad taste jokes and silly sight gags are your type of thing, then A Million Ways to Die in the West - funnyman Seth MacFarlane's follow-up to Ted (2012), his hugely successful comedy about a foul-mouthed teddy bear - will leave you feeling underwhelmed. His latest film is stacked with all of the above but it's mostly empty noise, signifying nothing.

While there appears to be room in the world for subversive comedies about stuffed toys with frat-boy personalities and sex on the brain (the box-office never lies), a weak spoof set in the Wild, Wild West is another matter. MacFarlane's latest attempt at offensive humour takes its cue from comedy westerns of an earlier era - Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles (1974) is an obvious source of inspiration - but apart from having more stupid fart jokes, the movie doesn't offer the same kind of freshness or comic impact.

Blazing Saddles had a zany, anything-goes attitude and was perhaps guilty of going way over the top in the end. On the other hand, A Million Ways is simply a star having his way with a self-indulgent spoof. The film, directed by MacFarlane and written by him with Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild, includes a few famous faces along for the ride - among others, Bill Maher, Christopher Lloyd and Ryan Reynolds show up in cameos - but the main problem with MacFarlane's film is that it just isn't that funny.