The magical story of a lonely boy who wishes his favorite teddy bear alive sounds may sound like the start of a heartwarming family fairy tale, but in the hands of Seth MacFarlane it's the set up to the most crude, offensive, and possibly funniest movie of the year. The Family Guy creator has a comedic style that is unflinchingly in your face, hard R-rated, and smarter than anything so lewd has any right to be. It's an unfair combination that few can match, and Ted sees MacFarlane at the height of politically incorrect powers.
Marking his writing and directorial feature film debut, Ted is at its simplest a buddy comedy, but nothing MacFarlane does is ever truly that simple. He voices the title character, a CGI animated plush teddy bear(voiced by MacFarlane), brought to life by John Bennett's(Mark Wahlberg) childhood wish. After freaking the crap out of John's parents, Ted becomes a huge star. The world readily accepts the idea of a walking talking bear, and soon he's on the cover of magazines alongside other hot stars like Corey Feldman and Corey Haim. See how well they turned out?
Years later and Ted hasn't grown up in the least. He's a hard drinking, foul mouthed, pot smoking womanizer, and he's dragging John right along with him. A Boston guy with a wicked good heart and charm to spare, John hasn't been able to use his natural gifts to get ahead. Instead, he's drifting through his dead end job and just seems to be wasting time until he can come home and hang out with Ted. There's just one problem: his girlfriend, Lori(Mila Kunis). While she loves John and adores Ted, she's also a woman, which means she has zero patience and less tolerance for fratboy foolishness. Three's a crowd with Ted around, and as John screws up time and time again, she makes an ultimatum. Either Ted goes, or she goes. See how women will do ya?
Fans of Family Guy will recognize right away exactly what they're in for. MacFarlane is an equal opportunity offender, and he takes every single chance to crush other races, women, Christians, and practically any other group you can think of. He does it with a playful eagerness to smack down those Hollywood is usually reluctant to snipe at. Freed from the shackles of public television airwaves, MacFarlane digs for every crass sex gag he can think of, and he's not afraid to go to some pretty weird places to make us laugh. Like having Ted and John spiral into a drug fueled haze with Flash Gordon's Sam Jones? Only a totally screwed up, brilliant mind could come up with something half as strange. There's barely a moment where MacFarlane doesn't come up with something clever, unexpected, and oh so dirty. The less you know about Giovanni Ribisi's role, the better. It's downright disturbing and impossible to look away from.
Dirty and biting though it may be, what separates Ted from other supposedly controversial films is that it's also quite sweet, and the bro-mance between John and Ted is quite believable. Crazy, right? That the friendship between a guy and his talking bear could hold real weight and make you feel something when they're forcibly separated? It's to MacFarlane's credit that he's able to make us suspend our disbelief so thoroughly. He gets plenty of help from the always underrated Wahlberg, who continues to prove why he's one of the more versatile actors around. He's especially good when playing the straight man opposite more vocal, showy co-stars. He totally commits to every single role, but is especially good when playing up his lovable, regular guy schtick. You want John to walk away a happy man with both his girl and his best buddy still in his life. Whether or not that happens....well, let's just say that the film goes to some pretty bleak places after awhile. And while these segments don't totally work and seem a little bit aimless, MacFarlane puts them there for a reason. He's more than just a comedian with a penchant for pushing buttons, with Ted MacFarlane has proven himself to be a hell of a director, and an even better storyteller.
