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How entertaining? ★★★★☆
Thought provoking? ★☆☆☆☆ 15 July 2012
This a movie review of TED. |
“Your wife’s pu**y is on my breath,” Ted
“No one’s ever talked to me like that before,” Supermarket manager
“Because everyone’s mouth is full of your wife’s box,” Ted
“You’re hired,” Supermarket manager
“Sh*t!” Ted
“No one’s ever talked to me like that before,” Supermarket manager
“Because everyone’s mouth is full of your wife’s box,” Ted
“You’re hired,” Supermarket manager
“Sh*t!” Ted
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TED has the structure of a conventional rom-com, but overlays the template with a stream of offensive gags at such a rate that laughter drowns out the next jokes. That is one serious achievement. The stale genre is elevated to new heights when the humour is this top-notch. Let TED be a lesson to all those purveyors of dreary, lazy tedium. Added to the refined hilarity, honed by director and co-writer Seth MacFarlane on his television series (FAMILY GUY, THE CLEVELAND SHOW and AMERICAN DAD), is an original hook: A boy’s childhood wish that his toy come to life is granted one Christmas. The relationship is established by the end of the opening credits. Getting the E.T./SHORT CIRCUIT potential plots out of the way, narrator Patrick Stewart states, even if you’re a talking teddy bear, eventually no one gives a sh*t.
Jumping from 1985 to the present day, John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) has been dating Lori Collins (Mila Kunis) for four years. John is the movie-staple man-child, and his friendship with a teddy bear is a pretty literal metaphor. Though, Ted is a potty-mouthed deviant (voiced by MacFarlane), who at one point gets a prostitute to defecate on their hardwood floor. Ted could have been funny but unlikeable; instead, surely we all want to hang with him by the end? If you disregard the inevitable choice between love and friendship John has to make, and the odd subplot concerning a maladjusted obsessed fan, Donny (Giovanni Ribisi), TED is comedy gold. Luckily Lori is not made out to be the baddie, the chemistry between her and John is palpable, and she is a cool girlfriend. I won’t ruin the cameos, let’s just say it’s not just stunt casting. They are the cherries on the cake. Oh yeah, and for those who love the chicken fight in FAMILY GUY, will mess their bad selves with the fisticuffs sequence.
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