Frat Boy At the Movies: Ted
on July 2, 2012 at 12:01 am
Ted is pretty awesome. Seth McFarlane takes the best traits from Brian and Peter Griffin and basically comes up with Ted, a magically teddy bear brought to life by a young boy’s wish.
The cast reads like a who’s who of Family Guy voices: Mila Kunis as Laurie, Patrick Warburton as Johnny’s (Marc Wahlberg) co-worker, Patrick Stewart at the narrator and, I’m pretty sure, the voice of the two foreign guys that can almost speak English. (He sounded just like them, friend!) There are some majorly funny moments in the film, as if a cursing teddy bear that hits the bong every ten seconds isn’t funny enough. There is a cameo by Ryan Reynolds that is hands down the funniest thing I’ve ever seen him in.
Another thing that makes the movie great is that Seth McFarlane (along with Family Guy writers Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild) play to their strengths as comedy writers. They establish a long history with the characters, something most movies in Hollywood don’t do. Most movies would’ve wasted Act 1 introducing everyone until you’re ready to scream at the screen, “Yeah, I GET it. Move on please!” Ted assumes you’re smart enough to get it. The characters are mostly played at the height of their intelligence. Giovanni Ribisi plays a sufficiently creepy guy.
The weakest moments (and I’m nitpicking here) are, unfortunately, with Joel McHale’s character. He’s kind of a two-dimensional bad guy, although Joel milks it for all it’s worth. Also, most of the jokes are low hanging fruit for the Family Guy writers. A lot of it is based on celebrity bashing and references to 80’s movies. I’d be surprised if anyone got the jokes of this flick in ten years. Also, no after credit gag, which was a little disappointing.
That being said, you’ll laugh and it’s pretty damned entertaining. Go see it bros, unless you’re some kind of Communist that hates Family Guy.
I give Ted 9 out of 10 keggers.
