Ted (2012); bromantic comedy drama film review

French poster artwork for the bromantic comedy drama film Ted.

Boisterous Bear by Linh

The idea for Ted has been with creator and voice star of the animated television series Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane, for the last ten years. He waited until things settled with the success of Family Guy before putting all his time and effort into bringing the talking teddy bear to life with his Family Guy colleagues Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild. Ted is MacFarlane’s directorial debut and it contains the same tone of adult sex humour and some familiar faces and/or voices from Family Guy that fans of the TV programme will instantly recognise.

BED BUDDIES: John (Mark Wahlberg) and Ted (Seth MacFarlane) sing their ‘Thunder Buddies’ Song as Lori (Mila Kunis) waits patiently in the film Ted. Image: Media Rights Capital, Universal Pictures.

Ted opens with a voice-over narrator (Patrick Stewart) introducing a small town near Boston on Christmas Eve in 1985, where an eight year old boy named John Bennett (Bretton Manley) feels so lonely because none of the other children wants to be his friend. On Christmas Day, John opens his Christmas present to find a talking teddy bear whom he names Ted. That night, John makes a wish upon a shooting star that Ted will come alive and be his best friend for life. The next morning, John and his parents are shocked at first to find Ted really has come alive and Ted becomes an instant celebrity. 

Twenty seven years later, Ted has become a pot-smoking, beer-guzzling, unemployed has-been, while 35 year old John (Mark Wahlberg) works at the rental cars store with Guy (Patrick Warburton) for his Tom Skerritt-obsessed boss Thomas (Matt Walsh). John also has a girlfriend named Lori Collins (Mila Kunis) whom he has been with for almost four years. As their fourth anniversary approaches, Lori expects a marriage proposal, but when John fails to present her with a ring, she gives John an ultimatum. He must let go of his childhood friend so he can move on with his life as a grown man. However, John is not the only one who can’t let go of his childhood as Donny (Giovanni Ribisi) and his son Robert (Aedin Mincks) are fans of Ted and they plot to kidnap him.

PARTY PAIR: Ted (Seth MacFarlane) and John (Mark Wahlberg) party together like it's the 1980s in the film Ted. Image: Media Rights Capital, Universal Pictures.

Mark Wahlberg (Lone Survivor, 2 Guns) has come a long way since leading his hip-hop dance group 'Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch' to international success in the early 1990s. Wahlberg shows his versatility in comedy as John and is believable as the man-boy who must decide how to keep his best friend and lover happy, in order to keep himself happy.

Mila Kunis (Jupiter Ascending, Oz:The Great and Powerful) is familiar to fans of Family Guy as the voice of Meg Griffin, and she is wonderful as John’s very patient and loving girlfriend Lori; Patrick Warburton plays the odd but nice Guy, whose sexuality is questionable and is another voice star of Family Guy, as the paraplegic wheelchair-bound cop Joe Swanson; Giovanni Ribisi is delightful as the creepy and slightly deranged Donny, who has been obsessed with Ted since his childhood days and tries to abduct Ted.

LIFELONG LOVE: Lori (Mila Kunis) asks John (Mark Wahlberg) to consider getting Ted to move out of their apartment in the film Ted. Image: Media Rights Capital, Universal Pictures.

MacFarlane is excellent as the voice of the wise-cracking Ted and the viewer needs to suspend their disbelief to enjoy the antics and irreverent humour of this computer-generated bear. MacFarlane is definitely a child of the 1980s with so many pop culture references from that decade that would bring knowing smiles from viewers who remember the eighties. Cameo appearances from 1980s celebrities form part of the narrative, as it strengthens the friendship bond between John and Ted while they reminisce about the superheroes they admired when they were young. Surprise appearances from the likes of Norah Jones, Tom Skerritt and Ryan Reynolds add to the fun.

COUCH CONVERSATION: John (Mark Wahlberg) and Ted (Seth MacFarlane) discuss Ted's new girlfriend in the film Ted. Image: Media Rights Capital, Universal Pictures.

Ted is more than a buddy movie or a standard romantic comedy. It is a bromantic comedy drama - a romantic comedy of brotherly love on the verge of breaking up in dramatic style. There are themes of life-long friendships, various stereotypes of race/ethnicity/gender/sexuality and different depictions of masculinity or male transgressions.

Since the success of The Hangover and Bridesmaids, adult-rated films with sex-related humour accompanied with coarse language have become more popular, and Ted attempts to lure the same audiences with its similar appeal. 

Ted is highly enjoyable and the uninitiated may require several viewings of Family Guy television episodes to appreciate the style of humour and satirical silliness of Ted’s narrative and characterisations. Ted’s closing credit song ‘Everybody Needs A Best Friend’, with lyrics by MacFarlane and music by Walter Murphy, even received a Best Original Song Academy Award nomination.  A sequel to this film is in production (possibly due for release in 2015) and it would be interesting to see if MacFarlane can conjure up something equally satisfying for fans of the potty-mouthed talking teddy bear.

TED'S TAMI-LYNN: Tami-Lynn (Jessica Barth) finds some of Ted's antics in poor taste in the film Ted. Image: Media Rights Capital, Universal Pictures.

Director: Seth MacFarlane

Writers: Seth MacFarlane (screenplay, story), Alec Sulkin (screenplay), Wellesley Wild (screenplay)

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Seth MacFarlane (voice), Giovanni Ribisi, Joel McHale, Patrick Warburton, Matt Walsh, Jessica Barth, Bill Smitrovich, Ralph Garman, Alex Borstein, Laura Vandervoort, Jessica Stroup, Bretton Manley, Aedin Mincks, Robert Wu, John Viener, Zane Cowans, Tara Strong, Mike Henry, Danny Smith, Patrick Stewart (voice), Tom Skerritt, Sam J. Jones, Norah Jones, Ryan Reynolds

Producers: Seth MacFarlane, Wellesley Wild, John Jacobs, Scott Stuber, Jason Clark, Joseph J. Micucci, Mark Kamine

Cinematographer: Michael Barrett

Original Music Composer: Walter Murphy

Film Editor: Jeff Freeman

Production: Stephen J. Lineweaver (Production Designer), E. David Cosier (Art Direction), Kyra Friedman Curcio (Set Decorator)

Costume Designer: Debra McGuire

Running Time: 1 hour and 45 minutes