Family Guy: I love Boston

Rating: 7/10 (8 July 2012)

If there is something I discovered opening day of Ted: do not underestimate Family Guy and American Dad fans. Seth MacFarlane has a bigger fan base than I thought, not to say I didn't know that he wasn't famous, just didn't realize how big he was. When I saw the trailer for Ted, I knew my fiancé would love this movie, he always tells me about what I missed on the new episode of Family Guy or American Dad or The Cleveland Show. I'm the average watcher of Family Guy, I'll watch a couple episodes that re-run on TBS at night, and of the three, I'll find one bad, one OK and one absolutely hilarious. In Ted, the jokes just keep coming at you, for every one that misses, the next one is a hit. This was made directly for the fans of MacFarlane's humor. After all, the poster does say "from the creator of Family Guy" and the cast is mostly a typical work day for MacFarlane. But over all, Ted does work as a comedy that I'm sure you could get a kick out of.
In 1985, in Boston, John Bennett is a lonely child who dearly wished for his new Christmas gift, a large teddy bear named Ted, to come to life to be his friend. That wish coincided with a falling star and Ted is brought to life. After John's parents got over the shock, word of the miracle spread and Ted was briefly a celebrity. Twenty-seven years later, John and Ted are still lazy but loving companions enjoying life even while John is pursuing a years-long relationship with a level-headed office worker, Lori. As their fourth anniversary of their relationship approaches, Lori hopes to marry John, but she feels he can't move ahead with his life with Ted around, who has become a vulgar, obnoxious wastrel. John is resistant to making his lifelong companion leave, but he is finally persuaded that night to act when the couple discover Ted at home with four prostitutes. Ted is fine at first on his own, but still wants John to still party with him causing problems in his relationship once again.
Like the shows, there are some jokes that seem to go too far. I don't mind 9/11 jokes every once in a while, but MacFarlane just throws a few out there and some are a little too much. His relationship with Mark Wahlberg in the film is similar to the relationship between Peter and Brian on Family Guy. And sort of in the spirit of Kevin Smith, who is an obvious fan of Star Wars, MacFarlane is a fan of the 80's and is trying to bring a B-Movie back, Flash Gordon. However, I can't deny that I seriously did laugh quite a few times with this movie. We have a good comedic cast that works and one of the things I really appreciate on MacFarlane's part as a writer is that he didn't make Mila Kunis' character a one-note jerk girlfriend who everyone hates. You understand her character and even Mark Wahlberg's. Heck, he even makes Ted, a bear, very believable as a friend who is still stuck in the party mode in life and takes his best friend down with him. There are two villains in here, one is a large child and his dad who will DO ANYTHING to make him happy, almost like Silence of the Lambs style, this dad is just plain creepy. The effects for Ted were great and the story, despite being predictable, was still very decent. I got a few good laughs from it and would say that it is very much worth the watch. If you're the average viewer of the shows of MacFarlane, I think you'll like it too. If you're a die hard fan, there's no question that you're going to love Ted.
7/10