Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Still hilarious but 'Ted 2' was not needed.


Picking up shortly after the first film left off, Ted (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) tied the knot with the gum-chewing townie Tami-Lynn (Jessica Barth) while John (Mark Wahlberg) is depressed after breaking up with his wife (played by Mila Kunis in the first film). Within a year, the honeymoon phase is over and in order to save their marriage, the two decide to have a baby. However, this brings up a problem: Ted is a teddy bear, no matter how lifelike he looks. This leads to Ted fighting for his civil rights to be seen as more than just a teddy bear and he'll need his "thunder buddy for life" for this.  

Like it's predecessor, Ted 2 starts off the same way the first one ended: with a wedding and Patrick Stewart's epic narration. If you have watched the first film, you know MacFarlane's one-joke premise that was on display with the raunchy, bromantic adventures of an underachieving Boston idiot and his foulmouthed childhood toy. With their relationship being a sub-focus, it's the heart and soul of the film. The sequel once again walks the tightrope between clever and crass and it was close to do that until it got to the 10th or 11th semen gag. That knocked the movie off into the area of crass. The jokes near the end reminded me of my nerdy days in high school where porn, pot, and science fiction references were actually understood. 


Cameos from Liam Nesson (stealthily stealing a box of Trix), Tom Brady (who refused to provide a sperm sample stolen from him), Morgan Freeman's dry humored lawyer, and Flash Gordon himself, Sam Jones (still doing drugs) helped provide more hilarity. Amanda Seyfried's stoned counselor and John's new love interest was funny and the target for jabs towards Arizona State and her limited knowledge of pop culture (80's references galore in this film, especially with New York Comic-Con). Overall, MacFarlane's jokes can still have power behind them but some of them feel lazy. It might be time for give up the prankster routine and grow up a little

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