One man and his bear

Ted (15)
Review rating:****
Fans of Seth MacFarlane have had a tough time just recently. In the heady days of 2001, MacFarlane’s animated show Family Guy seemed like the funniest thing on the planet. It was The Simpsons without the schmaltz; a foul-mouthed, celeb-bashing cartoon that perfectly satirised the laziness and cynicism of American network television.
But as time went on, MacFarlane’s programme became the very thing it most despised: a hollow, self-congratulatory mess without a shred of wit or sincerity. In the later seasons, it felt like MacFarlane had become bored with the show, and was showing worrying signs of going to seed. It is therefore an enormous relief to see him branching out into a new medium with Ted, his first feature, and reviving his razor-sharp comedic gifts in the process.
The story follows John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) and the eponymous ‘Ted’, an impossibly cute teddy bear brought to life after an eight-year-old John wishes for a best friend one Christmas Eve. Cutting to the present day, the relationship between the two is as firm as ever, with John and Ted (voiced by MacFarlane himself) embarking on a punishing schedule of lie-ins, television-watching, and seemingly endless weed-smoking.
Trouble looms, however, in the form of John’s long-term girlfriend Lori (played by Mila Kunis). Tired of playing second-fiddle to an animated stuffed toy, Lori lays down an ultimatum: either the bear goes, or she does.
This is a pretty familiar comedy narrative, namely the tensions arising from the time of life when the centre of a man’s social world starts to shift from his close friends to his family. And, true to its genre roots, Ted features many scenes of amiable male slacking and esoteric bonding rituals (both Ted and John are inexplicably obsessed with the movie Flash Gordon). What sets Ted apart is the sharpness of its screenplay and the surprising warmth of its characterisation. Surprising, because Seth MacFarlane (although an excellent writer of biting put-downs, pop-culture zingers, and cut-away gags) never especially excelled in his crafting of character. John, Ted, and Lori make a believable trio, despite the absurdity of the conceit, and the vague sense of misanthropy that underlined much of the humour in Family Guy is nowhere to be found.
Ted does occasionally miss the mark. My screening was dominated by 15- and 16-year-olds, on whom the jokes about Flash Gordon (released in 1980) fell rather flat. Indeed, many of the film’s pop culture reference points are from the mid-1980s, and may be a little obscure to those born (depressingly, for old has-beens like me) in the mid-90s.
Still, Ted is easily one of the funniest US comedies I’ve seen this year, and constitutes an encouraging reminder of McFarlane’s potential talents. Well written, solidly acted, and impeccably paced, Ted is well worth a look this weekend. Recommended.