One of the funniest from 2012; "Flash Gordon" fans rejoice!

Rating: 9/10 (1 January 2013)

"Larry Charles' "THE DICTATOR" is the best comedy of the year; and nothing comes close, really". That I wrote back in early September 2012, before watching TED of course (and MOONRISE KINGDOM). Recently I had to do my top 12 of 2012 for an online magazine I began collaborating in – I didn't include Seth McFarlane's first feature film but when I recalled its fantastic and hilarious homage to the FLASH GORDON movie from the eighties I realized it deserved a place.
This is the best thing McFarlane has created; basically with this movie he lived the dream of every geeky fanboy: to work with his heroes and make tons of references to his favorite movies, like STAR WARS. Obviously he has been doing that for many years with his series (if you have seen enough FAMILY GUY you'll recall some of its scenes with this flick), but nothing is as cool as doing it for the big screen. Nothing as cool as ending your romantic comedy in the pure style of an action adventure that features Indiana Jones!
Some people will think TED is a sort-of excessive proof of the power that MacFarlane has in the industry; having Norah Jones herself for the musical climax is perhaps as excessive as random (yes, MacFarlane did everything he wanted to). TED ain't a perfect film but, and like I indicated, few others from 2012 were as funny.
Its story is the very same of any romantic flick: the man (Marky Mark) loses his girl (Mila Kunis) but soon gains her back. The key here is that the reason why Marky loses his girlfriend involves, surprise surprise, Flash Gordon himself! And certainly the title character, the teddy bear with life Ted (voice of McFarlane himself, aka Peter Griffin) turns to be the classic crazy- irreverent-hilarious bastard.
I would love to hear the opinion of filmmakers like Edgar Wright and Guillermo del Toro, since both are huge fans of FLASH GORDON; but I'm pretty sure TED made them very happy and they weren't like "hey! I would have done a better homage to Flash".
*Watched it on 11 September, 2012