Tuesday 14 August 2012

Ted



John Bennett is a lonely eight-year-old boy who is not allowed to play with the other kids whose main source of enjoyment is to regularly beat up the local Jewish boy. However, on Christmas John gets the best Christmas present ever in the shape of a teddy bear. John and his teddy bear become inseparable and soon John makes a wish that Teddy could talk and the next day his wish has come true. Over twenty-five years later the 35 year old John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) and Ted (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) are still inseparable, but John’s girlfriend (Mia Kunis) offers John an ultimatum.


Ted is much like MacFarlane’s Family Guy, in fact the film feels somewhat like a series of TV episodes as the plot feels rather episodic as it sort of plods along following John and Ted’s bromance which isn’t quite as amusing as Channing Tatum and Jonah Hills’ bromance in 21 Jump Street. Yet there are more enough laughs to satisfy most of those in the audience. Unsurprisingly for a film similar to Family Guy the film contains crude humour, but lacking some of the satirical elements of MacFarlane’s TV show, but jokes about 1980s pop culture (parodying Airplane and referencing to Star Wars, Aliens and Flash Gordon) are the more successful. Mark Wahlberg’s laidback slacker is a good counter to MacFarlane’s foul-mouthed bear, but their bromance does not work quite as well as it should. The film also tries to build the relationship between John and his girlfriend, but it does not work quite as well as the humour as Mia Kunis just plays the nagging girlfriend (despite saying in an interview with The Guardian she would not like to play such a character). 

There are enough laughs to make Ted a passable comedy, but there is not much more than a number of jokes that would raise nothing more than a small laugh. The film’s slightly stop start plot also is an issue, however Ted’s jokes hit the target more often than they miss, plus the writers take at dig at Adam Sandler’s latest comedy Jack and Jill and any comedy film that does that must be doing something right.

3/5

4 comments:

  1. "John Bennett is a lonely eight-year-old boy who is not allowed to play with the other kids whose main source of enjoyment is to regularly beat up the local Jewish boy."

    ...Yep, that sounds right up Family Guy's alley.

    I wasn't expecting much from this movie -- given how I've sworn off Family Guy -- but I've actually heard a lot of good things about it. Fancy that. But as I understand it, Ted isn't nearly as funny as June's big-budget comedy, Prometheus.

    Sorry, couldn't help myself. Anyway, a great review.

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  2. Good review, Myerla. I loved this film a bit more than you did, and I did not find Mila Kunis' character to be annoying, as I felt her 'nagging' was justified. But thats just me.

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  3. I definitely don't think this is a movie for me. I'm comfortable with both obscenity and goofy comedy, but it would take a lot to convince me a film about a full grown man with a foul mouthed teddy bear is worth watching. :-) However, I did enjoy your articulate, balanced review.

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