No matter how big a splash you make in this world whether you’re Corey Feldman, Frankie Muniz, Justin Bieber or a talking teddy bear, eventually, nobody cares…”
That’s the censored version of the opening to Ted, the wacky story of a how 35-year-old John (Mark Wahlberg), lives with his odd best friend –a furry teddy bear which has been magically brought to life.
You see Ted is a foul-mouthed comedy from the makers of adult- orientated cartoon show Family Guy – which is both a plus in the fact that it is very funny, buy also a minus if you happen to be offended by swearing, rudeness, crudeness, drug-use and infantile stupidity.
OK, so that’s the acceptability / potential outrage warning out of the way – if you’re still reading then I’m guessing that you’re interested to see how a film about a grown man and a magically ‘alive’ degenerate teddy works.
And it’s worth pointing out for starters that, despite its crude subject matter, Ted is a work of CGI genius – probably the best interaction of real and animated characters to date.
Ted subscribes to the ‘throw lots of potential funnies at the screen and hope that at least some of them work’ school of film making – and the fact is that many of the funnies are really really funny.
They are not at all subtle, and mostly off the scale offensive to many but when Ted hits the mark with savvy pop culture references there are genuine laugh out loud scenes which make it at times the funniest film of the year.
Anyone who can remember the 1980s and especially those watched Flash Gordon get serious fan service here – even with ‘Flash’ himself, Sam J. Jones, crops up with brilliant cameo.
The rapid-fire easy crowd-pleasing gags keep the film rolling along and for every couple that don’t hit their mark there is the occasional flash-bang direct hit which had the audience in stiches.
Plot wise Ted is a bit weak. Seth McFarlane, who voices the bad-ass bear as well as calling the shots throughout, has come up with a story which sees John having to weigh up his juvenile waster partying with Ted and the fact that it is incompatible with his long term girlfriend Lori – the lovely Mila Kunis – and if he ever wants to settle down he has to say goobbye to the bruin.
Cue male angst of the ‘having to finally grow up’ kind – which, to be fair, Wahlberg’s perpetually worried expression fits incredibly well.
Ted is a furry subversive blast of very bad taste humour. Only you know if that appeals, but if it does you’ll find it delivers on all counts!