Overrated but good for some quality laughs

Rating: 8/10 (16 December 2015)

I feel often times the term overrated is used, or rather taken, too harshly. When I say that Ted is overrated, it does not mean that it's a bad movie. In fact, I really enjoyed Ted as far as a Seth MacFarlane creation.
First things first, the music in this movie is fantastic. This isn't usually something relevant in a comedy film, but it simply needs to be addressed. Nominated for an Oscar, Walter Murphy and Seth MacFarlane do an incredible job on the film's premier song, "Everybody Needs A Best Friend." Macfarlane has always been a great songwriter and it really shows in this production.
Another really strong factor in this movie is the animation with the teddy bear, Ted. Animation really can do incredible things and it's remarkable how good Ted looks in this movie. Honestly there are scenes where I actually forget that Ted isn't really there because even though the idea is obviously imaginary, the bear fits in perfectly with the rest of the scene.
The acting in this movie is what I'd call a mixed bag. MacFarlane does a great job voice acting for Ted and Mark Wahlberg does fine in his role as Ted's best friend John as well. The supporting cast is all good too; the villain in particular I really enjoyed, as well as Patrick Warburton's character and Mark Wahlberg's boss. The only performance I couldn't get behind was Mila Kunis's. For some reason, her acting has never done anything for me. I've always found her to be just sort of a pretty face. Think a female pre-Dallas Buyer's Club Matthew Mcconaughey.
The ending of this film is sort of lame. I find that MacFarlane usually struggles with writing the sentimental scenes and it's certainly prevalent in Ted. It's a sappy ending and it just doesn't really fit into the sort of Black Comedy style of this movie. Sentimental moments in Black Comedy CAN work, but only if they're done perfectly. Unfortunately for MacFarlane, this is not. But it's not that bad and kudos to MacFarlane for at least trying hard to bring a quality sad scene, because it's obvious that MacFarlane clearly gave it his all in this one at least.
But let's talk about the most important aspect of any comedy movie, the comedy. To be honest this movie made me laugh HARD. MacFarlane definitely has the ability to create funny scenarios and he shows it very much so here. But with this also comes the main problem in all of MacFarlane's writing, the cut-aways. This has always been an issue for me, sure I loved the cut-away bits in Family Guy the first 1000 times but by now the trope is simply getting old. This is interesting too because MacFarlane has shown that he can, in fact, create good comedy just from a story, which works a lot better. Just simply the fact that a Teddy Bear is a pot-smoking, cursing, Boston meat-head is already hilarious in it's own right. But yet Seth MacFarlane still insists on using this cut-away style of humor abundantly in his movies, and more often than not it just doesn't work. MacFarlane can also be a hit or miss at times. When the jokes work, they work great and are good for tons of laughs. But when they don't work, they seem to go on forever and fall really flat and that happens a few times in this film. But to Macfarlane's credit, he did a good job overall, in my opinion. There were certainly more "ha ha" moments than eye rolling moments by far.
In conclusion, not great, but I would definitely recommend. It's certainly a hilarious movie that has some really quality moments. You might enjoy some of the cameos as well. Seriously how did Seth MacFarlane and Patrick Stewart become friends? I've always found that amusing. But anyway, go see this movie, you'll be cracking up and will probably find yourself saying, "Wow I can't believe a Teddy Bear just said that."