A blend of 80s nostalgia and modern stoner movie, it's heart keeps it from becoming as irritating as Family Guy is now.

Rating: 7/10 (26 June 2013)

I didn't have much expectations for this film, especially after seeing the trailer (not the R rated one) but I hoped not to be bored and it succeeded for the most part. I like Seth MacFarlane in moderation, I've pretty much seen all the Family Guy worth watching to death and I like American Dad. I'm pretty sure he's a guy who's said all he wants and needs to say but he still makes stuff because it makes money. Whatever, it's fine. Ted is a long Family Guy special and follows all his own storytelling traditions and tropes.
It's a half 80s nostalgia movie and half modern party/stoner movie which is an interesting blend, though it means some of the references go right over this audience's head. It's typically vulgar and soaked in pop culture and most of it is enjoyable, though there was a "tribute" to Airplane! which was just a remake of the scene rather than anything new. It also has cutaways, fantasy scenes and a little slapstick of which I'm glad was minimal, saving it for one big fight scene. It taps into ideas, albeit not particularly profound ones, very effectively. The prologue scene was the highlight and then I slowly got back into it throughout the movie.
I'm always fond of Mark Wahlberg but the glaring age difference between him and Mila Kunis was pretty distracting though only because they had supposedly been together for 4 years already so she must've been like 18 while he was 30. I don't know. I liked McHale and Ribisi (though he came late to the party besides a few appearances). The rest of the cast were shoehorned in during their introductions and pretty much proved inconsequential. The whole film was pretty much a series of predictable sequences which could've been a lot better if they had been piled on top of each other rather than one after the other but the climax was on the right note.
While this is not a creative decision, it's become clear that digital cinematography is something that's here to stay in Hollywood. Unfortunately I just don't think people have figured out how to use it properly yet. Some shots are great but others are not cinematic and the production of the film becomes clear as day. It's not as bad as something like Public Enemies but it's incredibly distracting and dramatically decreases a film's production value and magic. Maybe it's a post process or its a lighting issue but it just doesn't look good enough for cinema yet. The Social Network did it right but maybe it's because they used Red Epics.
Anyway, yeah, standard affair. Easy to sell thing. Couple handfuls of laughs. Pretty forgettable. No big complaints. Certainly worthy of a 5 paragraph review. I liked it.
7/10