Ted (2012)

   
   Walking into Ted I expected a simple kinda half assed version of every dude bro-ship clashes with relationship comedy, except made worse by having to stare at a cheaply animated teddy bear. What I got was in fact a shock, one of the best dude bro-ship clashes with relationship comedies in recent memory, that actually had some decent characters, good acting, and .. well a few cliche's but we can't win em all! 


  Ted opens very simply; a young boy without friends gets a new teddy bear for Christmas and wishes that he come to life. Contrary to what probably should happen, the bear comes to life and assumes the mantle of the young boy's best friend. And because he's a magical talking adorable teddy bear the two become quiet famous. Years later the fame has died down, leaving the two now young adults at an emotional level of man-child because they're always had each other. When the guy (played by Mark Wahlberg) starts getting serious with his girlfriend (played by the dazzling Mila Kunis) she asks if maybe after all these years Ted (Voiced by writer and director Seth MacFarlane)  could move out so they can start a life together. 


  Annnnnnnnnnnnd you can see where that takes them, the idea isn't terribly original and the curves in the plot  can be picked outta the crowd like bright red tomatoes in a bagel factory.... see even the metaphor I used was more confusing then the plot of Ted. What makes it worth watching are three things ; the acting, the writing, and Mila Kunis. Now Mila Kunis is self-explanatory beautiful and a good actress but most importantly actually a funny and deep female character in this sort of a movie with a real motivation we actually believe. The jokes , while I won't get too specific, are a mix of all MacFarlane's favorites playing out in proper live action. And for what it's worth his jokes only work for me half the time so to say that I think its funny is some evidence that it should have a broader appeal then Family Guy. It's a mix of obscure references to his favorite era in which he grew up and very precise political humor that rarely crosses over to the offensive side. 


   But what really does it for me in this movie is in fact the acting, everyone plays their character so well ; Wahlberg uses his classic accent to stay in a kind of meta-immaturity, 
Giovanni Ribisi plays the perfect - OH I'm sorry didn't you know he was in this movie? Ya he is and he's f*cking weird. He plays the hell out of his weird creepy character but still... ick. Even Patrick Warburton, who you  will immediately recognize, who has less than five scenes in the movie is hilarious. 


   I can't promise you'll love this movie but isn't too long, it's funny, and when it suits the film its actually kinda sweet. Worth a quick look.