Film Review: Ted

Director: Seth MacFarlane

With Seth MacFarlane renowned for writing the TV series Family Guy that keeps being cancelled and then re-commissioned due to massive DVD sales. It was probably inevitable that he would get the chance to move to the big screen with a bigger budget and some big Hollywood actors.

John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) and Ted

John Bennett (slightly awkward Mark Wahlberg) who as a child wishes that his Teddy bear will come to life and then is shocked to find that it has. Fast forward 25 years and his life of getting stoned with his Teddy watching movies and Flash Gordon. The close relationship they have is getting in the way of John's relationship with his girlfriend Lori (Mila Kunis) who he neglects but also believes that his life with his Teddy is stopping him from progressing at his job. All this comes to a head during the movie.

My initial reaction to the movie is that it wasn't as funny as I was expecting and even more surprisingly is that it doesn't even try half as many jokes as I expected. In many cases the film moves along for 3-4 minutes at a time with no real jokes attempted. Naturally there are some funnier moments especially when MacFarlane strays into Family Guy style jokes and cutaways but there isn't the comedic acting talent in the cast for it to work convincingly.

Angry Ted

Some actors live up to their roles well with Giovanni Ribisi in his usual creepy form as the guy who wants to buy Ted for his kid and Matt Walsh who plays John's boss is as funny as anyone in the movie despite being in about 4 scenes. Ryan Reynolds has a funny cameo as well to look out for but for the most part it's just Wahlberg struggling as a comedic actor whilst Kunis whines at him and Ted does outrageous things that aren't necessarily that funny. Considering the hype and potential of this movie it is certainly a letdown for me.

1/4 predictable and lacking enough quality jokes is only two of the problems this movie faces