“Ted” was one of those films
that would either be brilliant, or it would flop. It’s already grossed a hefty
amount at the Box Office, so it’s an undeniable box office success, but that
doesn’t always mean it’s a good film. “Ted” is directed and written by Seth
McFarlane, the producer of Family Guy. Now, I’m not the greatest fan of Family
Guy. I find some episodes good, and some, in the nicest way possible, embarrassing.
It was pretty obvious this film would reflect the same humour, meaning that as
I sat down in my local cinema, I had no idea what to expect.
“Ted” opens with a young boy
called John, with no friends, who receives a teddy bear as a present at
Christmas. That night, he wishes that the bear (now named Teddy) could talk.
The next morning, he wakes up, and hey, the bear can talk. They promise to be
best friends for life. 27 years later, Ted (Seth McFarlane) is still living
with John (Mark Wahlberg) and his girlfriend of four years Lori (Mila Kunis).
This involves them both getting high on a near daily basis, John not getting
anywhere in life and Ted jeopardising John and Lori’s relationship. Lori wants
John to ditch Ted, but John doesn’t want that. Can the 3 of them work out a
fitting solution?
Well, there’s no other way
to say it. “Ted” is fucking hilarious. It is without doubt the funniest comedy
I’ve seen so far this year. It’s by no means perfect, and there are moments
where everything technical just completely falls apart, but as a comedy built
solely to make audiences laugh, “Ted” is a huge success.
This is mainly down to the
script. Unlike what I assumed, the majority of laughs here come from the script.
Whether it involves little digs at celebrities (namely Chris Brown and Katy
Perry), pretty funny insults or hilarious one liners, I found myself laughing a
lot. That being said, the script doesn’t really have much emotional depth to
it, but I wasn’t expecting much in those terms anyway. But, overall, I was more
impressed with the script than I expected to be. I was expecting “Ted” to be
one of those annoying, slapstick comedies, where everything comes from shouting
and screaming and swearing. Whilst “Ted” does use profanities as much as
humanly possible, there are numerous jokes with their use, and they are usually
the funniest.
The acting is another aspect
I should praise. Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis do great jobs here. They enable
us to dive right into their relationship, and we feel as if we’ve known them a
lifetime. I cared for both characters the whole way through, and found them
both likeable. John only wants the best for Ted and Lori at the same time, and
Lori has this atmosphere that she can be a fun, lively person; she just
struggles with Ted around. This makes us feel sorry with her, and we can
sympathise with her character. Plus, it’s Mila Kunis. You could have 90 minutes
of just Mila Kunis and it would be a satisfying film. Yes.
But, “Ted” is far from
perfect. Whilst it is wildly funny, the script is uneven. There are points where
just nothing happens. The plot goes nowhere, the script stops being funny, and
we’re stuck with about 20 minutes of a scene that goes nowhere with the film.
Also, the jokes are extremely hit and miss. When they hit, they’re excellent.
You’ll find yourself in tears. When they miss, they really miss. Note to Seth
McFarlane: FART JOKES ARE NOT FUNNY. Another flaw is the subplot. Whilst “Ted”
can be considered original for its use of a talking teddy bear, if you strip
back the characters and look at the story, the whole “Romance Vs Bromance” is
highly unoriginal and boring. It also has a ridiculously clichéd, cheesy ending,
and it’s stupidly predictable.
But, all-in-all, “Ted” is a
good film. Not amazing, but by no means bad. It falls into a long list of
comedies that could’ve been classics, but fall short. “Ted” is structurally a
brilliant film. It has some forms of originality, it works as a comedy, it has
likeable characters, it isn’t overlong or too short, Mila Kunis…etc. I just
felt that if Seth McFarlane tried a bit harder, it could’ve been so much
better. The film feels like a tribute to everything Family Guy has ever done.
All of the cast are in it, they reference Peter Griffin and the music is almost
identical. In my eyes, “Ted” is way above Family Guy. I think it’s time
McFarlane realises he has a possible career in the film industry, and sets his eyes and
aims a little higher. If there is one thing “Ted” proves, it’s that he’s
capable of it.
To Summarise:
Using a solid script, strong performances and brilliant humour to its
advantage, “Ted” makes for the best comedy of the year; it just should’ve been
better.
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