Ted. Rated MA 15+ (strong sexual references, coarse
language and drug use). 106 minutes. Directed by Seth MacFarlane. Screenplay by Seth MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild.
Verdict: This surprisingly witless affair never reaches the
heights to which it constantly aspires.
You’d think that with
three writers (who all work together on Family Guy – the successful TV series created by MacFarlane),
they would have been able to come up with something less repetitive and less
lavatory humour focussed. What we get, frustratingly, are torrents of the kind
of base humour that is not only on the nose, but that gets in the way of this
film taking the flight of fantasy it constantly threatens to.
The premise is a great
one. Young John Bennett (Bretton Manley) is a friendless misfit. When he
receives a teddy bear for Christmas, he wishes that it would actually be able
to talk to him and be his best friend for life – and before you can drop in a
fatuous fart joke, we find ourselves with a talking teddy. Fast forward to
2012, and the now adult John (a grim and surprisingly disengaged Mark Wahlberg)
has been living with his talking Ted (voiced by MacFarlane) ever since
childhood. When his gorgeous girlfriend Lori (Mila Kunis) demands that John ask
Ted to move out, Ted and John must discover whether their life-long bond will
survive their separation.
While MacFarlane is
certainly known, and celebrated, for taking significant creative risks with his
Family Guy stars – the
dysfunctional Griffins – here, the comedy just flat-lines and barely recovers.
The inclusion of Sam J Jones (playing himself) as the star of TV’s Flash
Gordon, seems desperate and
bizarre in equal measure, while the snide, witty commentary on the many
contradictions of society that gives Family Guy its undeniable audacity, is regrettably missing
from this big screen outing.
The CGI ‘Ted’, however,
works brilliantly – and it is the success of the way his character has been
created that is the film’s one great strength. It’s just a real shame that he
never has anything very interesting or amusing to say – with his unhealthy
obsession with sex, drugs and wild women just becoming boring. Deadly boring.
This review was
commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.
Wahlberg is game for this type of comedy and he makes every single one of his scenes with Ted, feel real as if Ted himself, was a real-life teddy bear come to life. This also adds a lot more to the humor of this flick that really worked for me considering I’m not a huge fan of Family Guy. Good review Geoffrey.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dan.
ReplyDeleteI tend to think that it is actually the success of the CGI teddy bear that works more than any of the contributions the actors bring to it. Wahlberg just struck me as looking awkward in every scene – and not the kind of awkward I could have accepted as being character-based.
Lots of missed opportunities.