Ted (2012)

Seth MacFarlane has become one of the most polarizing names on the comedy scene. His fans see him as the patron saint of all things funny while his detractors often groan at the mere mention of his name. Much of this revolves around his television series Family Guy; the project for which he is most well-known. I have long seen MacFarlane as a tremendously funny guy with a distinctive and pop culture-centric comic voice, but I’ve never really gotten into Family Guy, which I think is a funny show but not a particularly good one. MacFarlane is concerned far more with getting to the next joke than telling a worthwhile story or using his comedy to explore actual themes, but if the jokes are funny it makes it far easier to forgive the thinness of the material as a whole.

Ted, MacFarlane’s first film, is very much a product of MacFarlane’s Family Guy formula: create a premise, use premise to tell jokes, and maybe throw some kind of plot in there to justify the whole thing. It isn’t even a wholly original premise, as people have long contrasted childhood innocence and R-rated dirtiness for comedic effect. Yet MacFarlane is in fine form here; creating a genuinely funny if inevitably uneven tale of a man, his girlfriend and their foulmouthed sentient teddy bear.

The film begins with the young John Bennett (Mitch Haggins), a Boston boy who grew up without any real friends. One Christmas he gets a teddy bear from his parents, which he names Ted, and he wishes for it to come to life. He and his family are quite surprised when this wish is granted, and the two become inseparable buddies for their entire childhood. John then grows up to be played by Mark Wahlberg, and he still lives with Ted (now voiced by MacFarlane). The two of them spend much of their time getting high and watching Flash Gordon, but when John’s girlfriend Lori (Mila Kunis) asks for Ted to move out they have no choice but to appease her. This kicks off a plot in which John must choose between boyhood and adulthood, and it proceeds exactly as you’d expect. Meanwhile, a very creepy man named Donny (Giovanni Ribisi) wants to take Ted and give him to his own son.

Ted is one of those movies that can be hysterically funny for ten minutes and then relatively dull for the next five, as MacFarlane alternately indulges his best and worst impulses for almost two hours. As usual, the weakest jokes are often the pop culture references that think they’re jokes, such Patrick Stewart’s film-ending narration which takes down Brandon Routh and Taylor Lautner, among others. (MacFarlane is just now moving into the movie business, but knowing him it’s not shocking that he comes out swinging.) Ted thrives when it shifts into full-on “hang out movie” mode, and the scenes of Wahlberg and his furry friend getting into all kinds of mischief are often the strongest. The best example is a massive party in the middle of the film in which Ted, John and others do nothing of import to the story for a good ten minutes yet it’s still non-stop hilarity. You get the feeling that this sequence was the result of MacFarlane and his co-writers Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild just sitting around a table coming up with funny things, which is perfectly fine when you’re this good at it.

Whenever Kunis enters the picture, the movie loses a lot of steam. This is not the fault of Kunis herself, who has become a very reliable actress over the course of the last couple years. Instead, the writing and the predictable plot drag her down significantly. I was glad to see that the film never makes her the villain—if this were, say, That’s My Boy, her character would have been treated far less kindly—but I wish the writing of her character was worthy of the actress’ performance and likability.

While Ted is unlikely to make MacFarlane haters see the light, it may go a long way toward converting folks like me who were merely on the fence. He’s never going to dramatically change his comedic style, but this film is certainly proof that he has room to grow if he breaks outside of the Family Guy box. Overall, Ted works because it’s the result of funny people being funny, and Wahlberg continues to prove that he has more to provide as a performer than some people give him credit for. This isn’t profound comedy—it isn’t even all that consistent—but the funniest moments of Ted are as satisfying as anyone could have asked for.

Grade: B