family ted

Rating: 9/10 (20 December 2012)

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane's debut feature is crass and sexist. It wallows in nostalgia, flirts with racism, spends too much time scampering after a plot. It's also the funniest film of 2012. A raucous insult to good taste and good sense that warps the template of the American boy-man comedy into horrible new shapes.
Ted – a cuddly toy bear brought to life after a wish upon a star – is a miracle turned sour. The public got bored of sentient "Teddy". He's become a grizzled former celebrity – a tired little weed-smoking, beer-swilling teddy bear. He spends his days on the sofa, distracting his childhood buddy John (Mark Wahlberg) from committing to his girlfriend, Lori (Mila Kunis).
It's been said that MacFarlane will aim his vicious wit at anyone except the white middle-class male. But Ted is as much about the frustrated nature of wastrels like John as it is a showcase for the world view of a gratuitously obscene teddy bear. MacFarlane makes it clear – after all the cruel jokes and bitchy asides – that John isn't happy, hasn't been for a long time. And Ted's the reason. John starts to see Ted for what he is: a weary Boston meat head, made funnier and sadder for being trapped in the body of a children's toy. It's in the dissolution of their long-term friendship that the film really bites.
If you need to intellectualize your enjoyment of MacFarlane's comedy further, you could point to the tragedy of Ted's ageless existence. Or the director's skewering of a society that so quickly tires of an anthropomorphic teddy bear. Or you could just laugh until your stitches burst at a whacked-out cuddly toy extolling the merits of a strain of weed called "They're coming! They're coming!" i did.