I didn’t like 2012’s Ted. The jokes were as uninspired as the ridiculous plot, relying on the same formula that makes Family Guy a tedious watch and putting too much faith in shots of a teddy bear being crude and smoking bongs being funny. That said, I couldn’t stop laughing during Seth MacFarlane’s Ted 2 – and I mean almost-falling-off-your-seat laughing. In this day and age, where social justice is of paramount concern for many media – often just to get cash-wielding clicks – Ted 2 is quite obviously not going to be met with a warm reception from critics (or writers), it’s offensive and unapologetic with a terrible habit of one-upping Ted’s behaviour and the boisterous dynamic he shares with “thunder buddy” John (Mark Wahlberg).
For those who aren’t actively looking for offense, Ted 2 is a sharp and slick comedy with succinct, incendiary satires strung throughout a surprisingly long duration. Fox News suffers a brief but hilarious jab, as does typecast Liam Neeson, at the hands of Liam Neeson. The Taken star owns the spotlight for his brief guest appearance, hilariously debasing himself with banter about cereal, to which Ted appropriately acts aloof.
Along with Neeson, guest spots are rarely wasted here, there are some playful moments with Flash Gordon that truly stick out and add to the consistent, brainless fun that separates the wishy-washy original from the superior sequel.
The film opens with Ted marrying Tami-Lynn (Jessica Barth) at an elaborate, booze-filled wedding that segues into a swish opener featuring an entertaining and well executed Broadway-esque dance. This is quickly shifted into the failing marriage between the two which Ted can only salvage with the suggestion of parenthood, the only real issue they can think of is that “Teddy ain’t got no dick”. Queue attempting to masturbate Tom Brady (appearing as himself) in his sleep and a bunch of other antics revolving around squirmy semen jokes and making us think that Ted 2 will just deflate(gate) into a sea of gross-out gags.
Plot wise, there’s not much here but a paper thin parable to connect Ted’s plight with the civil rights movement. Ted is a sentient teddy bear capable of everything required of “person-hood”, but the government considers him property because, well, he is a toy bear that was made by Hasbro who just happened to come to life through some sort of inexplicable fantasy magic. This leaves a lot of room to quote profound nuggets of wisdom (most of which come from Morgan Freeman and his dulcet, authoritative lawyer tone).
A subplot involving the first film’s villain, Donny (Giovanni Ribisi), who now works for Hasbro and hatches a scheme to keep Ted classified as ‘property’ so they can clone him, adds little except a small sliver of tension towards the end and a chance for Ted to really show his “human side”. It also takes us into Comic-Con in New York, giving MacFarlane ample opportunity to fit in a load of pop culture references, including a satire of people who go to “nerd conventions” and refuse to accept that they themselves are “nerds”. While watching Patrick Warburton getting all self-referential while dressed as The Tick and bullying “nerds” with outrageous machismo (a la his David Puddy character from Seinfeld) is entertaining for one or two shots, it falls into the other list of running gags – like how much ‘black cocks’ there are on google – that drag a bit.
Amanda Seyfried is a nice break from the often obnoxious back-and-forth between John and Ted, slipping in between the two with a grounded performance that takes jokes as they are, even when Seth is writing in jokes about her appearance.
Your enjoyment of the film really depends on your ability to accept a brash comedy as a brash comedy and expect nothing more. Ted is a largely hateable bear who overshadows any message with an incessant need for crass comedy. Seth does seem to contradict himself with jokes about “black guys” running alongside self-aware references to slavery, and he cleverly works in situations to ramp up the offensiveness – such as shouting out “sad scenarios” at comedy improv shows – but Ted 2 works around this lack of decorum, atoning for (most of) the offense given by delivering something that is amongst the best and most re-watchable comedy films of the past few years.
Review Score: THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Running time: 115 minutes
Ted 2 is out in cinemas now
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