Funny, but trying a little too hard...

Rating: 7/10 (30 June 2012)

MacFarlane's trademark mix of cutting satire and slapstick comedy setup worked its charm in TED, delivering plenty of laughs, and even a little heart, for anyone who can handle the film's risqué on screen escapades.
But MacFarlane (who makes his feature directorial debut with the film) successfully balances the absurd and over-the-top elements of Ted with a number of grounded, albeit familiar, statements on love and friendship. That said, despite presenting a number of genuinely sweet moments, the film isn't going to be for everyone and moviegoers who aren't interested in watching a stuffed Teddy Bear f**k a cash register display (which is only the tip of the iceberg) should probably look elsewhere.
This feels pretty much the same as watching Family Guy. Peter Griffin is John, TED is Stewie and Lori - Lois. The jokes are ruder, cruder and more sexual oriented (hard to imagine right?).
Without question, the core Ted story will be especially familiar to anyone who has seen a bromance film or a similar thirty-something coming of age tale before. Had the movie not featured a sex-crazed talking stuffed animal, it'd be easy to write Ted off as a formulaic and predictable series of events that fails to offer anything but formulaic characters in service of one comedy setup after another. However, watching the surprisingly lifelike animated Teddy Bear performing even the most basic actions (such as driving a car) never gets old, and as a result, even the formulaic elements of the plot are easily heightened by the unabashed absurdity of the setup. Of course, there are also plenty of fresh comedy gags as well – not to mention loads of '80s throwbacks that pull double duty in providing a number of laugh out loud setups, as well as humanizing the stuffed protagonist (i.e. he's really into Flash Gordon).
The cast includes plenty of stilted interactions, especially between Wahlberg and Ted, but none of these moments detract from the overall enjoyment of the experience – since everyone on screen is clearly operating with their tongue firmly planted against the side of their cheek. Mila Kunis once again successfully flexes her comedy muscle and, despite serving in a supporting role this round, has some of the more enjoyable (and heartfelt) scenes with the bear. Joel McHale's Rex and Giovanni Ribisi's Donny are equally entertaining, albeit exceptionally one-note, which describes most of the characters in the film: thin but entertaining vehicles for either physical or one-liner comedy.
While it's not going to be for everyone, moviegoers who are onboard with Ted's campy premise and crude antics will likely find that MacFarlane has delivered an entertaining live-action comedy debut. Outside of the premise, the scene to scene narrative elements don't offer many surprises, but considering they revolve around an R-Rated talking Teddy Bear, most scenes still manage to present plenty of fresh laughs and, from time to time, heart/stuffing-warming character moments.
P.S Wahlbergs accent is HORRIBLE. I think he would of sounded better just using his own accent, the one he tries to pull off comes across fake as ever, listen out for it...tried a little too hard.