Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Seth
MacFarlane
Plot: During a particular tough childhood,
John Bennet (Wahlberg) befriends a teddy bear, who ends up becoming his best
friend. Now, with 35 and with the negative effects of Ted and John’s mutual
influence clearly showing, John is forced to choose between moving on with his
life or getting stuck on an arrested development condition.
“The truth and nothing
but the truth”: When the news that, after some buzz
for some years, Seth MacFarlane finally decided to direct a movie, the first
concerned that crossed my mind was that we, the audience, would end up watching
something along the lines of “Family Guy: The Movie”. Despite being a fan of
the aforementioned show (as well as “American Dad”) for several years I stopped
watching it in 2010 because the humor had ran dry. Let’s face it: MacFarlane is
a one trick pony relying on a mix of pop-culture and “fart jokes” source of
humor, which is abundant in today’s airwaves.
Still, with “Ted”, he is able to reinvent
himself without needing to make major adjustments to the sources that made him
famous. And while on TV it looks over saturated, on the big screen it looks
fresh and new.
Despite some flaws, “Ted” picks up on a regular
rom-com blueprint adds a certain dose of stoner comedy and tops it of with a
great CGI lead, and the output is a successful combination of all of the above.
Regarding performances, Mark Wahlberg delivers
a believable character and the best relationship with a full CGI character
since Bob Hoskin’s in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” (1988) and is also one of the
movie’s main strengths. Mila Kunis as Lori adds little much to what we have
already seen from her on last year’s “Friends with Benefits” (2011), but still
plays out a decent and likeable character.
There’s room for some drama, but the director
and the characters successfully prevent it from damaging the pace of a story that doesn’t take itself
too seriously set in a light hearted environment.
The backdrop stories and the secondary
characters are interesting and don’t feel unrelated to the main plot, avoiding
to excessively dragging out: from Ted’s girlfriend Tammy Lynn to the psychotic
villain Donny (played by Giovanni Ribisi) and not forgetting Lori’s sleazy
boss. In a way they work as more thoughtful cutaway gags, which are the
cornerstone of both “Family Guy” and “American Dad”.
The comedy is there but lies on a very specific
demographic: I had the misfortune of getting stuck in a row in front of a bunch
of kids who certainly didn’t catch the humor on the “blink and you’ll miss it”
Indiana Jones reference, the Pink Floyd lyrics joke, Tiffany’s cheesy video
clip and of course Tom Skerrit, among others. But still in a sea of cultural
references, any movie that does a frame by frame reenactment of one of the best
comedies ever made ( “Airplane” (1980) ) has to be a great movie.
And for a movie that puts so much emphasis on a
long-running sketch about “Flash Gordon” (1980) and is still able to maintain
an entire audience interested, the only conclusion we can retrieve is that it’s
a success.
That being said “Ted” is the best comedy of
this summer and one of the best of the year.
A word to the wise: for every “Purple Rain”
(1984) there’s an “Under The Cherry Moon” (1986) and for every “Borat” (2006)
there’s a “Bruno” (2009). So before venturing on a sequel or your following
project, plan extremely well what your next step will be, Mr. MacFarlane.
“Money-Shot”: From the “Flash Gordon” slo-mo entrance to the
“Thunder Song” there are plenty of great moments that will surely make you want
to see this movie a second or even third time.
Bottom-Line: 8/10. To put it simply, the best R-rated Comedy since “The
Hangover” (2009). Delivers the laughs and belongs to my definition of “a feel
good movie”. If you’re not easily offended and you believe that “The Dictator”
(2012) fell short on the expectations, then this is your movie.
But of course, this is just my opinion, I could
be wrong…
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