Director: Seth MacFarlane
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Seth MacFarlane, Giovanni Ribisi, Aedin Mincks
Running Time: 109 minutes – extended edition
Certificate: 15
Extras: None
Going from TV to movie comedy is a difficult transition. It often leads to unnecessary story arcs, a bloated running time, and an over reliance on cameos – all of which apply to TED, Seth MacFarlane’s directorial debut.
John Bennett (Wahlberg) is a loner, struggling for friends at school his parents buy him a teddy bear –inventively named Ted (MacFarlane). John’s wish that Ted come alive is granted by the gods. Insert profanity, sexual innuendo, and the kind of subtlety of which Michael Bay would certainly approve. John grows up, settles with Lori (Kunis), and finally separates from Ted… or so Lori hopes.
TED is what you’d expect, and want, from Seth MacFarlane. He hasn’t strayed from the popular FAMILY GUY formula, and whilst this may cause a ‘tut’ or two, it raised enough smiles for TED to gross just shy of $500 million worldwide. The main reason for this is that, for the most part, TED is funny and has a heart underneath the plethora of Jew jokes and sexual acts: Wahlberg plays along brilliantly with Ted’s antics – his naivety both infuriating and warming. There is also arguably the best cameo in history by Sam J. Jones (Flash Gordon), Ted and John’s hero, giving the film life at the halfway point, but the best part of TED is saved for Kunis. As Lori she does a simple job, holding the film together whilst everything else collapses spectacularly. Often these characters are odious bores, ranting and raving at every opportunity, but Kunis plays it calmly, sincerely, and her performance is even more vital given the unfortunate kidnap subplot tacked onto the end. Completely redundant and out of mood with the rest of the film the angle clearly came about because of concerns over the runtime. The kidnappers Donny (Ribisi) and his son Robert (Mincks) are unwelcome additions – save Donny’s dancing – given Rex (McHale), as Lori’s pervert boss, is already the perfect antagonist. MacFarlane’s fondness for throwing things at the screen can be seen on his TV shows, this story arc is maybe an example of why that doesn’t work in film.
TED is a mixed bag: there are enough laughs and the right amount of heart to warrant your time, but don’t be surprised if you start to nod off toward the overly sentimental finale.
Extras: DVD gets nothing. Blu-ray customers get the following: The Making Of: A Guy, A Girl And A Teddy Bear, Doing It Live, A MacFarlane Set, Alternate Takes, Teddy Bear Scuffle, Deleted Scenes, Gag Reel, Theatrical Feature Commentary with Director/Co-Writer Seth MacFarlane, Co-Writer Alec Sulkin and Star Mark Wahlberg. Stump up the extra fiver is our advice.
TED is released on DVD and Blu-ray 19th November
Nosgoth
Dec 14, 2012 at 4:11 pm
Thank you for the objective review on Ted. All I’ve been hearing about it is praise from several of my coworkers at DISH; they’re even bigger fans of Seth MacFarlane than I am (which is saying something), so I have to allow for the possibility that their opinion could be biased. I’m kind of anxious to see it for myself though. I’ll be getting it any day now since I already put it in my Blockbuster @Home queue. DISH’s Blockbuster @Home is a pay-by-the-month rental service that sends me Blu-rays, DVDs, and video games, all for the same price. It’s saved me a lot of money (especially on video games) because there’s not many movies I like to watch over and over again, or games that I spend enough time with, to justify the expense of buying them.