Tigers play too rough, but not as rough as Ted

Rating: 6/10 (1 July 2012)

Greetings again from the darkness. Upon watching the trailer, it would be easy and understandable to simply write off this movie as a ridiculous piece of junk produced merely to capitalize on the popularity of Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy creator). That would be a mistake. While much of what Ted has to say will burn your ears, the insight that goes into his lines is often unmistakeably brilliant.
The movie opens with terrific narration from Patrick Stewart. It's done in A Christmas Story style, only with a caustic and deadpan irreverence that will jolt you before the opening credits have even rolled. We learn the story of 9 year old John Bennett, a social outcast who receives a teddy bear for Christmas. First, what parent buys their 9 year old a teddy bear??? Anyway, that night, under the covers, young John wishes that he and Ted could be lifelong friends. In the morning, he awakes to find a sweet, lively teddy who startles everyone.
The talking bear becomes an instant celebrity and is even booked on the Johnny Carson show ... the first of many 1980's pop culture references. As in the case of Corey Feldman (pointed out by the narrator), celebrity often fades. Flash forward 25 years and John and Ted are living together with John's girlfriend (Mila Kunis). The boys spend most of their time smoking pot and watching TV re-runs and worshiping the 1980 Flash Gordon cult movie. It's a typical man-child existence except that one of them is a vile, 4 letter-word spewing teddy bear, and there is no logical reason that the beautiful Kunis hasn't walked away from the four year relationship with the hapless loser John.
Mr. MacFarlane's true talent lies in laughing at our societal norms and encouraging us to laugh at ourselves. He does this through Stewie, the pet dog on Family Guy, and now here with a talking teddy bear. He holds little back in ripping our obsession with celebrity or our clinical anxiety towards all things Politically Correct. Luckily the same rules don't apply for talking teddies, so we hear things that we aren't even allowed to think. Because he can, MacFarlane mixes in his love of the 80's with numerous references and we even get odd cameos from Tom Skerritt, Nora Jones and Ryan Reynolds. The most bizarre reference takes up a substantial part of the movie ... Sam Jones, the star of Flash Gordon, appears as an aged party animal, teaching the boys some new tricks. Most of this will be dead time to those unfamiliar with the 1980 movie ... and evidently none of us have been impacted by it like MacFarlane.
The movie is a mash-up of John Waters, Bad Santa, Jackass and just about every stereotypical slacker-buddy movie from the past 25 years. It's all of that and none of that at the same time. Depending on your viewpoint, Ted is either a crass, irreverent, totally inappropriate waste of movie time, or it's a comical, insightful observation on where we are as a society right now. Only you can decide ... just please don't take your kids.