Ted, 2012.
Directed by Seth MacFarlane.
Starring Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Seth MacFarlane, Joel McHale and Giovanni Ribisi.
SYNOPSIS:
As the result of a childhood wish, John Bennett’s teddy bear, Ted, came to life and has been by John’s side ever since – a friendship that’s tested when Lori, John’s girlfriend of four years, wants more from their relationship.
Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane gets his first shot at directing a feature film with Ted. Can he manage to make a competent movie or does he fail to do so by essentially trying to make Family Guy: The Movie?
In Ted we follow John Bennett (Mark Walhberg); as a young boy he doesn’t have many friends and is a bit of an outcast. One Christmas he gets a brand new teddy bear, which is great because now he has a friend to share secrets with and have all kinds of fun. Before going to sleep one night he wishes that the bear could really talk so they can be best friends forever. The next day he wakes up to find that the bear can now talk and move around like a real person. Ted ends up getting a lot of attention. He gets to go on Johnny Carson, be on magazine covers and still has John as his best friend.
We jump a little more than 20 years; now John is all grown up but he’s still just sitting around hanging out with his bear. John works at a car rental place and has a great girlfriend, Lori (Mila Kunis), who has been with him for four years. Lori wants John to grow up and try to better himself but with Ted around there’s not a good chance of that happening. She wants Ted to move out but John just isn’t sure if he’s ready to lose the only true friend he’s had all his life. Now John has to choose whether he wants to start settling down with Lori or continue being a kid with Ted.
The premise for this movie intrigued me from the get go. I thought it was a great spin on the “bro-mance” genre. Having a teddy bear be the best friend who’s always getting in the way sounded hilarious and the trailers made me laugh. However, I did have my doubts because it was a movie directed by Seth MacFarlane. It was great to see that this wasn’t just Family Guy humor all throughout the movie. Sure it had plenty of it but that’s not all it was and I was thankful to see that.
As far as laughs go this one provides a lot of them and had me laughing almost throughout the entire movie. Not every joke works but that’s understandable because it’s a comedy and not all the jokes are going to work. There are a lot of 80’s references throughout the movie. You can tell MacFarlane is a fan of things from the 80’s, especially Flash Gordon. References to Flash Gordon pop up all the time and the star of the movie, Sam Jones, even makes a pretty hilarious cameo, although it may not work for people who aren’t familiar with Flash Gordon.
There was only one aspect of this movie I wasn’t fond of… a character about half way through played by Giovanni Ribisi. He’s a stalker who has been in love with Ted since he was a boy and now wants to buy Ted for his own son. It’s really unnecessary because the character is only there to setup something that happens towards the end of the movie. They could have easily taken him out and it probably would have been for the better.
The cast here works very well. Mark Walhberg proves once again that he can do comedies. He was over-the-top funny in The Other Guys with Will Ferrell and here it’s no different. There is great chemistry between him and the bear and the chemistry with him and Mila Kunis is great as well. Mila Kunis was the perfect choice for Lori. She is always funny anytime she does a comedy and she does really well in the scenes where things get a little more serious. Seth MacFarlane as Ted is great. I wasn’t sure how it was going to work since he sounds like a mixture of Brian and Peter from Family Guy but the voice really does work and Ted ends up providing most of the laughs.
Even though there isn’t much of a supporting cast, the rest do a decent job. While his character is unnecessary, Giovanni Ribisi is good in his time on screen. Joel McHale plays a sleazy lawyer who is Lori’s boss and always trying to hit on her. His character is somewhat weird and lame at times but McHale does a good job pulling it off. There are a good number of cameos that all work. Sam Jones from Flash Gordon works the best but we also get a cameo from Tom Skerrit and one who I won’t spoil but they work simply because they never say a word.
Ted is funny, heart warming at times and overall an enjoyable movie to watch. Family Guy fans may get a kick out of it a little more than people who don’t watch the show but it is sure to attract fans of its own too.
Flickering Myth Rating: Film ★ ★ ★ / Movie ★ ★ ★
Jake Peffer
Originally published July 14, 2012. Updated April 11, 2018.
