Bearable

I'm interrupting the run of vacation stories again tonight to talk about a movie that just opened this past weekend (and claimed the #1 slot in the U.S.). I went to see Ted, the comedy from Seth MacFarlane about a 30-something washout still living with the magically walking-and-talking toy teddy bear that he wished to life when he eight years old. It's a hit and miss effort, certainly more "hit" than "miss," but no laugh riot.

For its novel premise, the film doesn't actually stake out much new territory. The plot is the done-to-death dilemma of a man trying to choose between his girlfriend and his best friend. The humor is largely of the Family Guy style, albeit with some R-rated language that couldn't get onto FOX television. Really, the only novel thing here is the use of sophisticated CG-character technology -- Lord of the Rings, Rise of the Planet of the Apes type stuff -- in a lowbrow comedy.

But just because the style is often similar to Family Guy doesn't mean its unwelcome. Patrick Stewart uses the same earnestness he puts into his voice for American Dad as a narrator that bookends the movie in a hilariously acid manner. Patrick Warburton gets some of the biggest laughs of the movie using the same deadpan delivery of his Family Guy character. There are plenty of laughs here, and they're not all simple and easy "watch the stuffed toy say something dirty" gags. (Though honestly, many of them are.)

Though they don't get many of the best lines, the best performances in the movie actually come from the two leads, Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis. They're both working overtime in this movie to interact with the CG character of Ted and make it believable, and they really pull it off. Between their efforts and the largely convincing character animation, I soon found myself no longer noticing that patent unreality of the situation.

Some other people from outside the main Seth MacFarlane stable also come ready to play. Joel McHale is funny as a super-sleazy character there to add a romantic threat to the rom-com story. And Giovanni Ribisi plays an outlandishly weird villain there to add a physical threat to balance that. There are two very funny cameo appearances. One, by Flash Gordon actor Sam Jones, has been fairly widely reported. The other is best left unspoiled, but is particularly funny in the oddball way the person has virtually no dialogue; it's truly a cameo appearance.

I think I'd call it a B-. If you like your humor raunchy, there are enough jokes along those lines that for you, you might adjust that to a B+. While the movie is probably worth a rental, it doesn't deliver the sort of relentless laugh-per-minute ratio I feel warrants rushing out to see it in theaters.