Review: "Ted"

A young boy with no friends wishes for his teddy bear to come to life so they can be best friends forever, and magically, that's exactly what happens. Ted (voiced by "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane) and John (Mark Wahlberg) grow up playing together, being Thunder-Buddies for life, and later on . . . drinking, getting high, and partying together. John strikes gold when he meets Lori (Mila Kunis), a beautiful young woman and a successful professional who for some reason doesn't seem to mind that John has zero career potential and spends most of his time getting baked and watching Flash Gordon with Ted. After four years, however, Lori finally wants more, and the couple is ready to take their relationship to the next level, but John's friendship with Ted will threaten to tear them apart.

MacFarlane, who also co-wrote and directed the movie, is hilarious as Ted, and the film will certainly appeal to fans of his work on "Family Guy." If being funny is all you need out of a movie, Ted has plenty of laughs to get by on, including a guessing game that provides Wahlberg a chance to make the Micro-Machine Man proud, a hysterical hotel room brawl, and the two partying with their favorite celebrity -- a cameo that will delight fans of a particular eighties camp-classic. Ted is raunchy and irreverent, a comedy that insults every single possible demographic, using language that would make Andrew Dice Clay howl with laughter.

From a more critical perspective, Ted features strong writing, but throws in two unnecessary attempts at creating a villain for the piece and falls apart in the last act. In the end, it's just another lazy comedy with no real consequences for its characters' actions. A film that represents the reality for a growing number of people who are working dead-end jobs and perpetually avoiding adulthood, Ted has keenly observed its target audience, but has nothing of value to say to them.  Like John and Ted, the film has no ambition except to have a good time.

"Setting the Frame" Film Grade = C+