There are many ways in which this film could have gone so wrong but it pretty much managed to avoid them.
On receiving a text from a friend inviting to go go do the Orange Wednesday thing with her to see this film I kind of shrugged to myself expecting a brash display of gratuitously 'provocative comedy' and relentless pop culture references, somewhere in between Paul and Clerks 2. Upon thinking to myself 'it's either that or sit around glued to my laptop waiting for various public figures to come up with witticisms in 140 characters or less', I decided to go along.
So Ted begins by telling the story of John (Mark Walberg) a lonely little boy who on Christmas day wishes for his teddy bear to come to life. We are then taken to the present day where both he and the bear (Ted) have grown up into weed smoking adults living a lifestyle of prolonged adolescence. Remarkably John has managed to bag himself Lori (Mila Kunis), his beautiful and intelligent girlfriend of four years (while John is blessed with the looks of Mark Walberg he is also a stoner adult male who's best friend is a teddy bear). Basically John has to get his shit together or he will lose the girl and Ted is of course detrimental to this. One thing I liked about this film is how easy it would have been for Lori's character to be the bad guy, the typical two dimensional 'bitch girlfriend' of the mainstream American Slacker Comedy. She isn't, she remains a sympathetic and positive character throughout, taking no pleasure in the fact that John may have to leave behind his best friend in order to get the most out of their fife together. For that Seth MacFarlane. I solute you.
Ted's character is pretty much what you might expect, he swears, has no respect for authority and has torrid sexual relationships with human females. However he also has a great deal of humanity and vulnerability which is refreshing and really allows you to invest in the characters and in the reality of the film, which is no mean feat when considering the film's plot. Another thing that allows you to do this is Walberg's surprisingly good comic timing and the innocence and subtlety which which he delivers some really very funny lines. This helps steer the film away from the somewhat aggressive gag fest style of Family Guy. Don't get me wrong though it's full of the kind of humour one would expect, there is a defecating prostitute and plenty of sharp references to popular culture that will nicely stroke the egos of those who catch them while not drawing the audience out of the reality of the film. There is alo a beautifully over drawn-out fight scene reminiscent of the infamous 'put on the sunglasses' scene from John Carpenter's They Live, where we are treated to seeing Mark Walberg being repeatedly beaten by a teddy bear. This film has lots of genuine laughs but also a nice touch of humanity, it is essentially a film about love, friendship and growing up. There where points where it evan began to verge on schmalz but thankfully on such occasions it was swiftly everted with the use of an off colour joke.
I enjoyed this film, I laughed out loud (or LOLed if you're someone I hate) in the cinema a few times, which being a rather uptight person is a pleasure I don't always allow myself. While this film is not going to change your life it is well worth a watch and it's a damn sight better than Batman.
