Legitimizing The "Family Guy" Humor Set

Rating: 10/10 (7 March 2017)

Because the "Family Guy" TV show has been on the air for over a decade now, there is an entire generation of comedy fans who have grown up with its raunchy, celebrity-bashing, voice-acting, frat-party style of humor. As such, a film like "Ted" can now wildly succeed in a contained theater format, and it does (in this case) with hilarious results.
For a basic plot summary, "Ted" sees young John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) giving life to his childhood teddy bear (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) via a magical wish one long-ago Christmas night. Fast-forward about 26 years, however, and suddenly Ted is now a pot-smoking, wise- cracking, babe-chasing celebrity who keeps John from realizing his full potential. When girlfriend Lori (Mila Kunis) comes into John's life, John must ultimately choose between her and Ted in order to figure out what his future will hold.
Quite obviously, this movie is made for the "Family Guy set". I mean, practically ever FG voice makes some kind of appearance here, and the jokes are of the same sort of crude/sexual/celebrity/juvenile nature. As such, I know a number of individuals who would walk out of the theater in disgust. For those who "get it", though, it is absolutely hilarious. I don't want to go into any details and ruin the fun of many of the film's best jokes, but suffice it to say that you'll never go more than a couple of minutes with a belly-laugh.
Besides the jokes, the acting is also tremendous. Kunis is fast becoming the "Queen of the rom- com" and turns in another great performance here, while Wahlberg is convincing as a sort of "Peter Pan" character who is in no hurry to grow up. MacFarlane's voice of Ted (in which can be heard all of Peter, Brian, & Stewie from FG fame) never gets old either.
Also, there is more to "Ted" than just comedy. It contains some impressive action sequences, as well as some character development and drama surpassing that which one would expect in movies that SHOULD showcase those things. This movie, despite the humor type, takes itself very seriously at its core and strives to provide more than just the laughs that one knows will exist coming in.
In essence, "Ted" is a sort of "coming of age" for Seth McFarlane's unique set of skills. Whereas he once was thrown off FOX's airwaves for being a little too crude, he can now make a movie about a pot-smoking, expletive-spewing teddy bear that leads its opening weekend at the box office. Why the switch? Because, after years of honing his comedic style, MacFarlane found the right mix of actors and tone to produce a movie that stands up well on its own merits.