After marrying his sweetheart Tami-Lynn (Jessica Barth),
sentient teddy bear Ted (MacFarlane) slowly begins to find his marriage in
trouble and decides to have a baby. Obviously unable to reproduce, Ted finds
another obstacle when he realises that according to the government, he is not
recognised as a person but as an object and so has no legal rights. Turning to
his divorced childhood friend John (Wahlberg) and inexperienced young lawyer
Sam Jackson (Seyfried) for help, Ted sets about proving his equal rights in
society.
After making his name in television,
writer/animator/actor/singer/whatever-takes-his-fancy Seth MacFarlane made the
leap towards feature films in 2012 with his gross-out comedy, Ted, about a
teddy bear who comes to life and becomes a foul-mouthed stoner. The film was a
massive hit and so as logic dictates, MacFarlane follows up (after making
another film, A Million Ways To Die In The West (2014)) with Ted 2 and as
expected by its title and by a rather sobering element of truth, it’s not that
surprising that Ted 2 is in many ways just Ted…again.
That’s not exactly a bad thing, entirely. MacFarlane’s brand
of low-brow humour has always been something of 50/50 in terms of success.
There’s intelligence and wit enough for it to often work and was a major reason
why he was something of a startling young talent when he arrived on the comedy
scene in the late-90’s with his animated sit-com, Family Guy. However, shock
value in comedy done with wit and intelligence is rare. Shock humour for the
sake of getting a cheap laugh is far more commonplace, easy and has slowly
become more and more a problem for products associated with MacFarlane. Ted 2 is no masterclass in humour and I have a
feeling that Oscar Wilde would be turning in his grave (after making a catty
remark about the lining of his coffin) if he knew of this film.
One common problem in particular is the clear idealism of
what is being presented (MacFarlane has always been a staunch and unashamed liberal)
being constantly undercut with jokes that are overly-offensive (homophobic in
particular) and mean-spirited. A Million Ways To Die In The West spelled it out
fairly clearly that MacFarlane seems to be particularly fond of Blazing Saddles
(1973). Saddles was very politically incorrect, so much so that it would
probably not be made today. However, for all the jokes about racism, it was
very clear that the black protagonist was smart, capable and likeable whilst
the racists were all a bunch of buffoons. Politically incorrect? Certainly.
Racist? Certainly not. MacFarlane has the offense down, not the justification.
However, whilst many of the jokes don’t work there’s still
some of the old sparkle that helps lift it and the bravado with which the film
is performed and executed does mean that laughs are probably going to happen
even if it’s despite yourself. On the subject of the actors, Mark Wahlberg does
a good job reprising Ted’s human buddy John Bennett and Seth MacFarlane is
reaching for something good in Ted’s occasional moments of sincerity even if
the tone of the film means that the film struggles to be taken seriously. With
the more earnest characters played by Amanda Seyfried and Morgan Freeman, who
barely has a single joke, the performances fare better, even if Seyfried’s role
is very predictable and seems to also substitute for Mila Kunis’ conspicuous
absence following the first Ted that’s never satisfyingly explained.
If Ted 2 is guilty of anything, it’s not daring to go
anywhere really new with its comedy. Yes it’s willing to say and do things that
prissy and sensitive souls might tut and disapprove of, but it plays it safe
and worse, it does it rather lazily. There are good things here and there with
the film actually having some very enjoyable musical moments but with overused
gags and no real sense of doing anything else but make people wince, the idea
of a Ted 3 seems one that will test patience with worrying thoughts of just the
same old gags.
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