Tuesday Night is Film Night is here again and this week we cuddled up with;
Ted
Well, what can you say about a film that is about a boy and his talking teddy bear?
What? You didn't know Ted was about a talking teddy bear?
What? You didn't know Ted was about a talking teddy bear?
Whoops.
We start the film as the young John Bennett receives a teddy bear for Christmas, a teddy so lovely that John wished he could be real and that they would be friends forever. Well you know, dreams can come true. What makes the start even better, is the superb and extremely funny narration by Patrick Stewart, but anyway to the film.
So John Bennett has a bear that actually comes to life and Ted grows up with John and although Ted initially has some notoriety and indeed some celebrity, in time this fades and he just becomes a good buddy to John, hanging out, drinking beer, smoking dope, that kind of thing. The issue is that John really needs to grow up and spend more time with his girlfriend of four years; Lori Collins. Lori is played by the absolutely gorgeous Mila Kunis who, for the record, looks so damn cute in glasses.
Moving on.
The thing that makes the film Ted so good, apart from Mila Kunis of course, is that it is a successful genre cross-over movie. It's a lad movie, a buddy picture, a romantic comedy, a fantasy reality adventure and a feel good film too. However, it's not just that it successfully mixes the genres, each individual genre element of the film is portrayed so well. And this is due in no small part to the fantastic writing of Seth MacFarlane, who not only supplies the fantastic story, but also brings to the screen his vocal talents as the voice of Ted. (Who in no way sounds at all like Peter Griffin).
Saying that Ted crosses over the boundaries of genres is one thing, however the one genre that you shouldn't place it in is a kid's movie. That cute, cuddly teddy bear may have a heart of stuffing, but he also has a gutter mouth! Which is a key point to make, MacFarlane takes the juxtaposition between the cute and cuddly teddy and crosses that with the laddish, foul mouthed humour and scores a winner. There are so, so many elements to this film that are retold afterwards, by which I mean; fans of the movie will repeat word for word many scenes, which smacks of classic memorable comedy.
Alongside the comedy, there are also interweaving sub-plots which in a lesser film would be declared as pure filler, but in Ted, the sub-plots and minor characters inject an extra dimension to the film which lifts it to an even higher level. We really shouldn't over praise it, but it does do everything that it sets out to do, it will make you laugh, it will also tug at your heart strings, with it's sadder parts. The comedy is sublime, with hearty laugh out loud moments, but if there were to be a downside, some comedic references were lost on us, as perhaps they were too American, but this is a very minor gripe.
So, to summarise; great film, full of laughs, unique in it's format, brilliant writing and Mila Kunis to boot.
And news just in; the promise of Ted 2 in the future. Sequel anyone?
TNiFN Rating 83%
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