Coming off the disappointment of A Million Ways to Die in the West, Seth MacFarlane has to step it up with Ted 2. Ted was a huge success in 2012 (currently the eighth highest grossing R-rated movie domestically) and was generally well-received by critics, but one hit and one dud means Ted 2 is going to tip the scale. With a 46% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 49 on Metacritic, I’m pleased to say that I actually quite enjoyed Ted 2. Comedy masterpiece? No. But as a fan of the first movie, I found a lot to like and the film is easily recommended for those looking for a very-very-very light-hearted comedy.
A year into Ted and Tami-Lynn’s marriage isn’t a pretty sight. Without wanting to give up on each other, they plan to have a baby. When it’s discovered that Ted is not legally a person (which I thought was obvious), Ted, his buddy John (Mark Wahlberg, in his first sequel role), and their lawyer Samantha (Amanda Seyfried) set out to legalize Ted and smoke a lot of pot along the way.
By now you should know what to get from Seth MacFarlane. Cut-away gags, shockingly offensive humor, and pop culture references galore. If you’re still here, now it’s just a matter of quality. While I would feel strange saying this movie’s humor is of “high quality”, I guiltily laughed out loud at pot jokes, 9/11 jokes, anti-semitic jokes, and racist jokes.
Your enjoyment of this movie will dictate from how terrible of a human being you are. If you can laugh at a Robin Williams joke, buy a ticket today. More importantly, if you can laugh at a cleverly placed and well-timed Robin Williams joke, then buy a ticket today. Seth MacFarlane knows how to stage a comedy, and that’s truly evident here where the jokes are constant and the movie flies by in a flash.
Mark Wahlberg proves his comedic capabilities once again, and it makes me wish the actor would really go all-out for a comedic role one of these days. Unfortunately, there’s not much praise to be given to the rest of the humans.
Patrick Warburton and Michael Dorn make a fun pair and some cameos are great fun, but with a personality deprived character for Seyfried and just about no other major supporting characters to be found, it’s a good thing the movie flies by because I was getting a little tired of having the CGI bear and Mark Wahlberg carry the whole movie.
That didn’t happen in the first movie because Giovanni Ribisi’s character and that story worked well. Giovanni Ribisi returns, once again nailing the role, but his story feels so tacked on and unnecessary. The writers felt they needed a villain so they threw him back in. That’s a shame.
This led to a fairly disappointing third act. The jokes were much weaker, largely thanks to Ribisi taking center stage. Too bad it had to end on such a weak note, because there is a lot to love leading up to that. Not all the jokes hit, some bomb more than others, but there’s enough gut-busting laughs that kept the audience laughing well into the next scene. A minute didn’t go by without somebody in that theater losing it.
Weak characters and a lackluster third act hurt Ted 2 quite a bit, but I haven’t laughed that hard at a movie in a while. I feel horrible about it, but that’s part of the fun, so for those looking for a very dumb and well-made comedy shouldn’t look further than Ted 2.
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