Ted Review

Directed by Seth Mcfarlane and starring Mark Whalberg and Mila Kunis, Ted follows the story of John Bennett, who as a result of a childhood wish has a lifelong friend in the form of a talking, drinking bear.

After exploding with the worldwide success of the t.v comedy 'Family Guy' Seth Mcfarlane, the creator, is now looking to hit the big screen, with his film debut. Despite never truly understanding the comedy appeal behind 'Family Guy' or Mcfarlane's subsequent series' for that matter, I felt that there was something more with Ted, and as this was his debut film, I wanted to give his humor another chance, in the hope that Ted would ignite my love for his work. Contrary to my initial thoughts, Ted actually supplies something that I never thought it would, a loving story of two inseparable friends who are faced with the realism of life and relationships. However, as much as I searched, one thing that was incredibly scarce within this film, was a sense of comedic flare.

It seems as though I will never understand the 'genius' behind 'Family Guy' as the comedy within Ted is almost (understandably) identical. Which basically means, none of the jokes make any sense, and you're simply meant to laugh at the concept of the joke rather than the actual joke itself. For example prominent across nearly all of Mcfarlene's comedy empire, is a cartoon version of a person or animal committing superficial acts, a baby which can talk, a bear who goes to work and now a cuddly toy who smokes, drinks and is deemed acceptable within society. This running joke, across all of the series is only funny for a good few minutes, until you accept the character for what they are. I also have a problem with the puerile nature behind the humour, which is cheap, lazy and totally un-funny. Frequent jokes about 'farting', were totally immature and distasteful and as the film progressed, the quality behind every joke just deteriorated.

One type of humor which will never cease to frustrate me, is the use of humour surrounding pop culture. Endless jokes about unpopular stars like 'Justin Bieber' are used too much in this film. I don't think I'll ever find them funny simply because it's an easy way to make people laugh, by taking a dig at someone, then simply adding a 'swear word' at the end. In addition to this, these jokes are 'time-bombed', in a matter of years these jokes will become irrelevant and totally confusing. For this simple fact, this film will not 'stand the test of time'.

As previously mentioned I found the story to be weirdly heart-warming...initially. As I was clinging on to all the positivity I had within this film, the story slipped from my grasp, spiked with a predictable plot, clichéd events, and an oh so whimsical ending. Due to its strong start it was disappointing to see it deteriorate in such a way, even from a comedy standpoint the film began well. With the majority of memorable jokes appearing in the opening, there are a handful of jokes which will make you laugh, there just aren't enough to make this a strong definitive comedy. Plot points feel forced and contrived with unnecessary cameos appearing out of nowhere, the introduction of Giovanni Ribisi is simply a method of continuing the sloppy plot, in order to supply yet another dose of immature humour.

I began to build up a lot of respect for Mark Whalberg ever since 'The Other Guys' back in 2010, whilst it may not have been the best comedy, it still showed that Whalberg is a diverse actor who's not embarrassed to step outside his comfort zone in fear of under-performing. Furthermore he was actually very funny in the role, standing up to the comedy behemoth Will Ferrell .Similarly in 'Ted' I found him to be very funny, and actually funnier than the comedic spectacle in this film that is Ted himself. Also included within this film is a plethora of comedy faces, often seen as 'sub-characters' in various other films, some very funny cast members, let down by a poor script and childish humour. Mila Kunis is as good as she could within this restraining role, she doesn't really have the freedom to express any qualities, she's simply confined to the character of 'Lori' the loving girlfriend. As for the main comedy centrepiece 'Ted' voiced by the one and only Seth Mcfarlane? I couldn't help but picture Peter Griffin every time he spoke, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I personally find his voice quite irritating but I think that the fact that his voice was familiar to fans made it all the more funny.

Overall, Ted wasn't awful; it had its moments of hilarity, but also had long periods of painful humour. This wasn't aided by It's awful plot. However I have to appreciate that I'm not a fan of his work so I'm not surprised I didn't like it. As for fans of Family Guy, you should love this film, as it's simply more of the same 'hilarity'.

50%- Low quality comedy, coinciding with the clichéd plot, makes for an up-happy Ted.

Calum Russell