Thursday 23 July 2015

TED 2

Starring: Seth McFarlane, Mark Wahlberg, Amanda Seyfried
Writers: Seth McFarlane, Alex Sulkin, Wellesley Wild
Director: Seth McFarlane

All of the blurb about this movie seems to be very keen on pointing out that it's the "sequel to the highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time", so I'm not going to mention that at all. Except that I just did. For UK audiences, this translates as "a 15-rated comedy that made lots and lots of money at the box office". Regardless of the fact that the original was apparently seen by almost everyone above a certain age, is the sequel any good?

Well, I'll get to that soon but down to the business of the plot first, which kicks off with Ted marrying his girlfriend Tami-Lynn (Jessica Barth in feisty, adorable, winning form) in a ceremony officiated by FLASH (AH AH!) himself, Sam J. Jones. Ted's best bud John (Wahlberg) is still around but his marriage to Lori is over so a) he's moping around wondering why he ever committed to a serious relationship in the first place and b) that means there's no Mila Kunis in the follow-up. Excuse me for a moment....

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Okay, now that's out of my system. I'm okay now. Deep breaths. Where was I? Oh yes, Ted and Tami-Lynn decide that they should become parents - don't panic, there's no weird human-bear hybrid birth scene here - but their attempts to adopt a child are curtailed by the American legal system which decrees that Ted is not actually a human being and hence is not allowed to become a parent. Enter rookie lawyer Sam L. Jackson (Seyfried) who takes up Ted's fight for justice while the titular bear holds out hopes that she'll hook up with John and get him "back in the game".

So, what's the verdict? Heh heh, see what I did there? Seyfried's character is a lawyer, you know, what's the verdict? Okay, suit yourselves...

Obviously this movie is terrible because Mila Kunis isn't in it. Damn you, Seth McFarlane! Only kidding. Ted 2 does deliver its fair share of laughs even though it's not as hilarious as the first movie and it has the same warm, sentimental heart which is thinly concealed by a layer of foul-mouthed comedy. McFarlane seems much more at home off-screen as the voice of Ted that he is on it (see A Million Ways To Die In The West), Wahlberg gamely takes several for the team during the proceedings and the sweet, smart Seyfried may be the new poster girl for stoners. Ever noticed how big Amanda Seyfried's eyes are? The film-makers of Ted 2 have and they're the subject of a recurring joke.

Several characters from the first movie show up again with mostly successful results, the only return really hitting a few bum notes being the re-appearance of Donny (Giovanni Ribisi) who again has designs on kidnapping Ted for his own nefarious ends. Ribisi's a brilliant actor and he's creepily funny in the role but the subplot involving his character is just a retooled version of exactly what he did in the previous film and as such it's somewhat on the redundant side, even if it does leads to a couple of decent gags centred around a Comic Con event. The running time of almost two hours is also a slight problem and a bit of judicious pruning here and there would have tightened things up and kept the laughs coming at a quicker pace.

Ted 2 isn't an unqualified success but it does have a few laugh-out loud moments and plenty of chuckles. It doesn't make me desperate for Ted 3 but it doesn't make me dread it either.

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