Ted

Avoid Ted if you think fart jokes are crap. Or if you don’t like bad language, sexist jokes, politically incorrect provocations, toilet humour, slapstick, and all those other forms of humour proper citizens should turn their noses up at. In my reptile brain, a joke should be either good or bad. Ted, the film debut of Seth MacFarlane – the famous creator of the wild animated series Family Guy – contains many examples of both. The premise seems cheap, but works incredibly well. A talking teddy bear behaves like the dirtiest of the dirty bears.

Ted looks like the big, soft cuddly toy you always wanted but never got, but he swears, drinks, fucks, and fights even more than Billy Bob Thornton’s bad Santa in Bad Santa. And it’s funny, partly because a lot of Ted’s clownery, stunts, and one-liners are incisive, but also – and this is no mere detail – because CGI technology is advanced enough to make a stuffed animal look believable in the real world. Unfortunately, there is a very good reason why we have not once mentioned the plot. It comes off as one of those men-who-simply-refuse-to-grow-up stories by Judd Apatow, but it is very weak. Loser John (Mark Wahlberg) is pressured by his girlfriend Lori (Mila Kunis in a role that proves the feminist battle is far from won) to get rid of Ted. Since 1985, the talking bear and he have shared all their ups and downs, a euphemism for smoking dope, drinking, lazing around, partying, and farting. The only important thing is that Wahlberg constantly shares his space with Ted. He is the serious clown who needs a crazy clown to survive. Don’t avoid Ted if you like to laugh and will happily ignore some grossness and bad taste to do so.

Ted ●●
US, 2012, dir.: Seth MacFarlane, act.: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, 105 min.