When John was a kid, his beloved teddybear came alive thanks to a Christmas wish; as an adult, Ted is still his best buddy… but also an obstacle in John’s four-year long relationship with Lori (Mila Kunis). Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane’s feature film directing debut will please every fan of that show, as both voice talents and multiple themes and jokes from it appear in sometimes clever, sometimes contrived ways. Foul-mouthed, raucous and very funny, this simple comedy may be appreciated more by male audiences but still has plenty of heart, as well as dedicated performances by everybody involved, including the director himself as the pot-smoking CGI bear.
2012-U.S. 106 min. Color. Produced by Seth MacFarlane, Jason Clark, John Jacobs, Scott Stuber, Wellesley Wild. Directed by Seth MacFarlane. Screenplay: Seth MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin, Wellesley Wild. Song: “Everybody Needs a Best Friend” (Walter Murphy, Seth MacFarlane). Cast: Mark Wahlberg (John Bennett), Mila Kunis (Lori Collins), Joel McHale (Rex), Giovanni Ribisi, Patrick Warburton, Matt Walsh… Norah Jones, Tom Skerritt, Sam J. Jones. Voice of Seth MacFarlane (Ted). Narrated by Patrick Stewart. Cameos: Ted Danson, Ryan Reynolds.
Trivia: Followed by Ted 2 (2015).
Quote: “Try this, I told my weed guy to step it up and he gave me that. It’s called ‘Mind Rape’, it’s actually pretty mellow. Well, he only had three other batches: ‘Gorilla Panic’, ‘They’re coming! They’re coming!’ and something called ‘This Is Permanent’ … Go on, spark it up!” (Ted offering Wahlberg pot)
Last word: “‘Ghostbusters’ is a movie that we looked to often during ‘Ted’s’ production process, because it’s a movie that essentially takes place in the real world; New York City is presented as New York City and the characters are all very realistic, but there’s this one element that’s completely unrealistic. By keeping everything else very grounded, they earned that. You don’t have wacky characters in a wacky situation – you have grounded and real characters and one wacky situation for them to deal with.” (MacFarlane, Complex)
