Reel Review – Ted (2012)

I recently bought the Blu-ray of Ted, one of my favorite recent comedies; so I decided to give it another watch and do a review for it.  What you get when you watch this film is classic Seth MacFarlane humor, with laughs from beginning to end. The Blu-ray is packaged with an Unrated edition, which has several extended or edited versions of jokes and scenes that make the movie even more hilarious.

Ted tells the story of John Bennett, a young boy who receives a teddy bear for Christmas. After wishing the teddy bear would come to life, that’s exactly what he gets. Fast-forward twenty-seven years, and they’re still the best of friends. John (Mark Wahlberg), now has to deal with living a mature life, including his relationship with longtime girlfriend Lori (Mila Kunis).  Now, their friendship is tested when Ted (Seth MacFarlane) is forced to move out of their apartment so that John and Lori can move forward with their life together.

This movie is hilarious on all accounts.  Whether you’re a fan of Seth MacFarlane’s known work (Family Guy, American Dad) or not, it’s hard not to laugh while watching Ted.  The strong points of this movie lie within its original plot, paired with the quick-witted, irreverent and crude humor one could only expect from a project of MacFarlanes’.

Mark Wahlberg gets another good chance here to show off his comedic skills, which are well-paired with MacFarlane’s clever voice work.  There are more shenanigans throughout this film than you can count, but underneath is a touching and relatable story about a man still attached to a childhood dream. However, this movie is not for the easily offended, filled to the brim with crude and sexual jokes.

One of the things that works with Ted is the fact that, despite the wacky and far-fetched plot, it’s the realistic tone that makes it so funny. When a talking teddy bear makes a 9/11 joke, you can’t help but snicker and laugh. A lot of the humor is based on references and slapstick, but sometimes that is exactly what works, in this case especially.

Gaining mostly positive ratings and breaking box office records, Ted can’t help but live up to its name. The film holds a positive 7.1/10 IMDB rating, and a 68% on Rotten Tomatoes. If you haven’t seen this movie yet, definitely consider it for a good laugh. With a sequel on the way in 2015, it’s only going to become more relevant again over the next couple of years.

My Reel Rating – 7.5/10

Written by Josh Sazin on January 10th, 2014