MacFarlane plays Albert, a sheep farmer who hates everything. He also complains about everything, and that leads up to the big on going joke throughout the movie. He is dumped by Seyfried's character Louise and falls into despair trying to figure out how to get her back. She is now with Neal Patrick Harris who plays Foy, a rich Mustache enthusiast. There is more to it then that, as a second women played by Charleize Theron does enter the picture later on. The movie is about Albert growing up and becoming less pathetic, and realizing he can be happy. But for me he never really manages to be likable, and his journey never seemed to finish. He seemed the same at the end as he did at the beginning. Other known actors are Liam Neeson playing outlaw Clinch and Sarah Silverman playing the religious Prostitute Ruth.
Acting for this film was good, no real complaints. Everything seemed to be done in a more conversation like tone which helped keep it at a good level. There were some more dramatic moments, but nothing that ever really stretched the abilities of those on screen. Liam Neeson did a good job of always being serious and pissy sounding. MacFarlane and Theron had decent chemistry, and she was easily the high point of the movie. I think it helped she was the only really likable one in the movie. Sarah Silverman's prostitute Ruth was enjoyable at first, but her only real joke soured very quickly. She is dating Albert's only friend, but she is also having sex with many men each day. She will not have sex with him however because they are not married, it would be un-christian. You now know how every scene with her goes. Also expect a lot of sex based jokes, such as why she has bad breath after being with a client.
That actually is a decent enough segue for me, let's talk about the comedy. This is a comedy, so surely it must be funny. If not what is the point? Well the earlier reference to family guy comes into play here. Albert is Brian the dog, as in they lifted that character and put him in this movie. If Brian annoys you, you will hate Albert. If family guy is not funny to you, this movie will not be either. One thing family guy does a lot is random bits to try and elicit a unexpected laugh. Albert gives a big long speech about why the west sucks, and how you can die doing anything including the mundane. The movie goes to great lengths to show this to you, and the running gag is killing people in stupid ways at unexpected times. The first time it does kind of shock you, the 2nd you just shake your head. By the end it is annoying, it just keeps happening. The movie seems aware of this and stops for the last 30 or so minutes, as if it knew you were tired of seeing it. Other then that the comedy is based off of farting and poop jokes. The big showdown actually has poop in it, and detracted from the build up. There are some funny parts of the film, like the first time we see Albert do drugs. But for the most part everything just fell flat.
The entire movie felt like it could have been 40 minutes long, and better for it. It was easily one of the weaker comedies I have seen in a long time. I don't care for Family Guy, but I did enjoy Ted. I was hoping this would be more in line with that movie, but I was disappointed when pretty much every part of it. The racism was not funny, the constant poop and fart jokes were not for me. The story was poorly implemented and never really gripped me. The only good thing about this film was the casting outside of MacFarlane, and then they used everybody so poorly that it no longer mattered. The high points of the film were the cameos, which I won't ruin. But the only two memorable scenes were throwaways, one of which was when the credits were rolling.
If you are a big MacFarlane fan, check this out. But rent it first, don't buy it. Everybody else, just pass on it. There are better comedies out there right now.
After watching that trailer, the best joke from it is not even in the movie. And that awesome Balloon sequence.....where was that at?
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