Making his live-action feature film directorial/writing debut with a comedy called Ted, is the wild New Englander and Family Guy creator, Seth MacFarlane. When John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) was little he was lying in bed with his best friend Teddy (Seth MacFarlane-who also does the motion capture for him), a stuffed a bear, and wished that he would come to life so that they could be best friends forever. Sure enough, the bear came to life. Fast forward years later and John is now living the life, sort of. He has been dating Lori (Mila Kunis) for four years and still lives with his Thunder Buddy Ted, a bong ripping, trouble causing, foul mouthed bear. When Mila gives John an ultimatum, the bear or me, John has Ted move out but ends up struggling as he tries to remain best buds with Ted and still be a good man to Lori.
I liked Ted. In fact, I had a damn good time watching it. I thought it was a very funny movie and I can guarantee stoners are going to love it even more. My only issue with it is that once you see it, you won’t be able to laugh the same way without waiting ten years in between screenings. Most of its humor is surprise/shock oriented and will stick with you long after the movie, which is a good thing, but unfortunately it will greatly diminishes the comedic value the second time around.
I was personally worried that Ted would jump around all over the place and not be fully intact, but I’m glad to say that the film flows well and has a coherent storyline. As for the story itself, Ted’s plot is very simple and almost identical to that of The Muppets and other films about a third wheel interfering with love. I would have thought MacFarlane would have gone a slightly more original route but I’m not disappointed by its predictability, in fact I really enjoyed the way it all flowed because there was always a random curveball thrown in that would give me a good laugh.
Though not nearly as random as an episode of Family Guy due its lack of flashbacks, Ted is still a very random film chock full of hilarious and unexpected cameos, jokes that most of its target audience won’t understand and an offensive bear that sounds like Peter Griffin. I’m curious to see if anyone picks up the Airplane! scene that MacFarlene recreates with Wahlberg and Kunis.
I don’t want to spoil any part of the film because its best to go in without knowing much, but I have to say that Seth MacF
arlane has written and shot the best job interview ever, and it involves a cursing bear that looks like the snuggle bear’s accountant.
Having gone to school outside Boston, where this film takes place, it makes everything happening 10 times funnier; MacFarlane is constantly making fun of everyone who’s from there, especially the women. If you’re from New York it makes it even better.
As expected in any movie like this, there is a conflict and the drama ends up sucking the life out of the film for quite some time, but eventually the tension gets relieved with a wild chase involving a ridiculously creepy Giovanni Ribisi, a fat kid, and our leads.
Ted, while not gut wrenching, is a vulgar and hilarious film that’s jam packed with unexpected surprises. Even though the bear might be the only original thing about the story, the cast delivers the goods in exactly the way you’d expect them too but with some New England, Family Guy oriented flair and Giovanni Ribisi in a wonderfully different role.
Rating: Wickedly funny for fans of Family Guy humor (6.3/10)
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