A talking bear, pot/fart jokes, and random pop culture. Meh.

Rating: 3/10 (5 August 2012)

I just got back from seeing this movie. It was only OK. There's nothing mind-blowing about much of the movie other than the CG effects used to create the talking, ever-partying bear. The story is basically a mixture of the plots to "Toy Story 3," "You Me & Dupree," and "I Love You Man" but with a talking bear as the best friend. Why? Don't ask me. It doesn't really make sense, but it's touted as being a fantasy movie as much as it's a comedy as well.
I didn't like the idea that Ted was an aging being who slowly progresses into being a "bad boy" type as his human owner/friend ages alongside him. He just comes across as weak and a bad friend overall, in that regard. The whole being and backstory of Ted is ridiculous though, so you can't read too much into the character other than he sounds like Peter Griffin and has the personality of Quagmire.
I felt that Seth MacFarlane is the real person in this production who was looking for a friend, though. His never-ending compulsion to keep bringing up past pop culture references sounded like a cry for someone to understand what he thinks is funny. I get itTiffany on the TV, multiple obsessions with Flash Gordon/Sam Jones, a Knight Rider/Star Wars ringtone, Indiana Jones music, and on and on and on. He really is South Park's idea of what the Family Guy writers room is like: random thought bubbles mixed together and fed to the audience as humor. It's debatable that this is the truth because after a while I was like, "OK! I get it! Move on!" in my head. And there are tons of celebrities and cameos to digest throughout the film, as well. I don't know if it's Seth's idea of a power trip to include famous people he knows or what.
Joel McHale was probably the funniest part of the movie, which isn't saying a lot because they write the same fart jokes for him that they did for Mark Wahlberg. I just like his delivery a lot better than everyone else's.
If you're not picky about joke-writing or tropes that you've seen in movies 1000x over, Ted feels like a surreal romantic comedy. If pot jokes, multiple penis and fart jokes, or jokes involving animated creatures humping humans doesn't bore you, you just might like it. I thought it was all stuff I've seen before, though.