Sometimes life throws a curve ball at you and there is nothing you can do about it. Originally watching "People Like Us" was the plan yesterday and later on on Sunday a review of "Magic Mike" and "Ted" was going to be released, that was the plan, but sometimes the plan needs to be scrapped and life is meant to take it's own route regardless of what you have to say about it. In this case life pointed in the direction of "Ted" and so "Ted" is what was watched. The first thing that needs to be said before this review begins is that if you are not a fan of "Family Guy" then this movie is not for you, its not like being a fan is required but it is the case that if you are a fan you'll love this movie, if you're not you will either hate this movie or have a "...meh..." reaction to this movie, that's just how it is. Now that the disclaimer is done with let's jump in and review this thing.
If you watch the preview above then you basically get a picture about what this movie is about, it's not a deep movie to grasp, it's just a story about a man and his bear who happened to come to life. Starting with the negative here, it needs to be said that this movie is offensive, not just a little bit offensive but very offensive, even finding a preview that did not contain a ton of offensive material was hard. This is not a children's movie, so if you are a parent and thought about taking your kids to see this, well, know what you're getting yourself into first. There are tons of curse words, tons of mature material and lines are crossed various times. If everything that was just said is a plus for you then please go watch this movie, you'll love it, if not then you're welcome, I just saved you $8-$15 depending on where you live.
The first positive thing that needs to be said about this movie is that it was funny, like really funny, I haven't laughed that hard in ages. Seth MacFarlane knows his stuff, he wrote, directed and played Ted, the man has got a gift, a sick perverted gift, but a gift none of the less. I haven't heard a theater laugh that hard in ages, it wasn't like there was just a few of us laughing throughout the picture but it was everyone laughing every other second, if you are in need of a laugh and you love Seth's humor then this movie is the right choice for you, you'll love it from beginning to end. Some might argue that the writing is simple, as in it's not a complex existential script, but I would argue that writing a script that makes an audience laugh that much is one of the most complex things a writer can do, comedy is one of the most complex mediums for a writer, thus Seth MacFarlane deserves mad props for this movie.
This is the first full length movie Seth MacFarlane has directed, and he did a great job. Comedies are not only hard to write but are also very hard to direct, you need to have vision in order to understand what will work and what will flop on the big screen, you need to have a deeper understanding of the picture than everyone else, a bigger perception about how the movie needs to come together in order for it to strike gold, and Seth accomplished all these things, this movie did strike gold, in its own Seth MacFarlane way. I say "Seth MacFarlane way" because it is just that, his combination of humor has no proper label to it, it's a unique mixture of genres within comedy that forms this comedic masterpiece.
Mark Wahlberg deserves mad props for acting on something different than he generally does, you can't help but half expect him to rob a bank or have a gun fight with someone during the flick, it is his m.o. after all. Anyway, Mark was awesome, he was funny, clever and sold his role well, he did a fantastic job. Mila Kunis also did a fantastic job looking amazing as usual, but seriously she did a great job as well, it's not easy doing what these two did, doing a movie about a teddy bear and not be cheesy throughout it, that is no easy feat. Honestly the writing and acting was so good that you sort of forget that Ted is a teddy bear and just start treating him as another character in the movie, the movie is just that funny and that entertaining. Side characters also deserve a shout out here, Joel McHale and Giovanni Ribisi both were fantastic, both sold their roles well, there were other cameos that surprised and were awesome but I don't want to spoil anything.
It needs to be said again though that this movie is not for everyone, it is vulgar, trashy, and offensive, it does resemble "Family Guy" in that Seth wrote both and his humor is unique, but the movie is more visually mature than the animated series, Seth can get away with more in the big screens than he can on network television, so be warned. For those that love Seth's work and have followed his career since it's beginning, well, you'll love this film, you'll die laughing and be thoroughly entertained from beginning to end. This was Seth's debut on the big screen and he gave us exactly what we thought he was going to give, doing a fantastic job of it, needless to say I am looking forward to his next projects to come, hopefully they will live up to this movie.
Hope everyone had a fantastic week and that this weekend might be a safe and fun one for you. Be sure to enjoy your summer as much as possible, relax, have fun, but above all spend it with those you love.
Love from your humble blogger,
