In Ted, Seth MacFarlane takes his entire bag of tricks familiar to all us rabid fans of Family Guy, and lets loose a solid onslaught of no-holds-barred FCC-free hilarity.
The live action / CGI raunchy comedy, and MacFarlane’s feature film debut, has all the trappings of the edgy and over the top humor we’ve come to expect, anchored by a walking talking teddy bear that has distinct voice that falls in between Peter and Brian Griffen.
The plot revolves around Ted, a stuffed toy who became all-too-real in 1985 when a lonely boy wished upon a star for his best friend to come to life. Needless to say, the now living bear became a headlines grabbing pop icon during the ’80s, but soon enough saw his roaring celebrity days fast fade away as the years dragged on.
But that lonely boy, John Bennet, remained inseparable from Ted and as the story picks up in present day. Bennet (Mark Wahlberg) finds himself an unmotivated stoner with a dead end job at a car rental company, a gorgeous girlfriend of four years longing for an overdue engagement ring (played by Family Guy’s own Meg Griffen, Mila Kunis), and constantly couch sitting with his former celebrity beer guzzling pot smoking potty mouthed childhood slack-happy friend.
The raunchy humor hits hard and fast in the film’s first act, with MacFarlane pushing his R-rated big screen freedom to its limits. Gross out sight gags. Check. Foul mouthed lovable characters. Check. Racial stereotype humor. Check. Below the belt raunchy sex humor. Check. Flashback asides. Check. Obscure refrences. Check. Hilarious cameos. Check.
The adorable Mila Kunis plays it pretty straight as Lori opposite all the wild antics going on, especially in countless scenes with a talking CGI bear and her lovable chowder-head Boston boyfriend. Although Wahlberg isn’t stretching his acting chops heavily here as the guy caught between settling in with the love of his life and remaining a man child with his child hood buddy, he conveys a winning balance of heart and humor in the lead human role.
In addition to several memorable self mocking celebrity cameos, the supporting cast of Joel McHale, Patrick Warburton, Laura Vandervoort, Giovanni Ribisi, and narrator Patrick Stewart, offer a solid backbone that builds on the strong performances of the leads.
Much like Family Guy where a sarcastic talking dog interacts normally within society, Ted requires the same suspension of disbelief when it comes to witnessing a magical toy that flawlessly runs about in this film. And if a talking bear were to come to life, albeit here scampering around while swearing, drinking, hanging with hookers, and posing for awkward pictures with adoring fans, chances are it would look like Ted (though there is still a strong place in my heart for Teddy from A.I.).
Though the tangible believability of Ted is never felt more than in a violent hotel room bear versus man drag out fight between the fuzzy toy and Wahlberg. If Superman: The Movie could make you believe a man could fly, Ted will make you believe a stuffed bear can brawl (hint: it’s best not to use the name Teddy Ruxpin in certain company).
In addition to a brilliant spot-on flashback tribute to Airplane!, you will be left in the cold if your pop culture repertoire can’t appreciate a brilliant subplot and extended cameo by Sam Jones, as in Flash Ahhhhhhhh!! Gordon, the ’80’s ‘It’s So Bad That It’s Awesome’ Queen soundtrack fueled sci-fi classic. In typical MacFarlane manner, he really runs hard and fast with the retro reverence of it all, and the more in-the-know you are with Flash Gordon, the funnier it is.
Also a highlight is the disturbing performance by Giovanni Ribisi as Donny, the Ted-obsessed villain with an equally creepy son. Ribisi provides shards of sheer comedic ewwwww inducing moments that I actually found to be on the playing field with the ‘best of’ Buffalo Bill from Silence Of The Lambs. Ribisi does a lot with a little in this role.
Ted has it’s demographic set in stone. There is little wiggle room available to suddenly figure out if this raunchy comedy is your cup of tea or not, so every Family Guy fan should get out and see it. For every time you wish MacFarlane’s breakout animated Fox show could take it a step farther, Ted succeeds in accomplishing that on all levels. MacFarlane makes a seamless leap into feature films here by also managing to not just give fans a lazy big screen version of everything we’ve seen before. He manages to give us a incredible CGI creation that makes you laugh along with his unabashed frat boy bravado, and then balances it back to tug at you when it’s a heartfelt buddy movie. At the core of the story, Ted and John really are lifelong best friends who care deeply for one another.
You could treat Ted as brave and bold first date movie to test the uncomfortable levels of edgy humor your better half will publicly laugh at, or be safe and secure with a group of like-minded obscure reference loving buddies to enjoy a night out with. Either way, there is great time to be had here. And frankly you will be hard pressed to find a more original comedy this year than Ted.
Ted opens on the big screen on Friday, June 29th.
REVIEW RATING: ★★★½☆☆
Directed By: Seth MacFarlane
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Seth MacFarlane, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel McHale, Sam Jones
Studio: Universal Pictures
Rated: R
Running Time: 106 minutes
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