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TED 2: It’s Exactly What You Think It Is

TED 2: It’s Exactly What You Think It Is

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Ted 2 is exactly what you think it is. Seth MacFarlane is an entertainer who infuses all of his work with the same pop-culture heavy and juvenile abundant humour, from his roots in Family Guy to this, his third cinematic effort. The first Ted was a cinematic surprise, over-performing at the box office to become (at the time) the highest grossing R-Rated comedy of all time. Audiences really responded to the simplistic comedic setup – a man and his foul-mouthed talking teddy bear. After this, MacFarlane tried to branch off and headline his own film, A Million Ways to Die in the West, which was a critical and commercial bomb; which makes Ted 2 a safe film to fall back on after his previous failure. The sad thing is, it seems like MacFarlane hasn’t really learned much since his first film, continuing his trend of overindulgent, bloated films which run punchlines into the ground and have a lack of real cinematic aesthetic.

When We Last Left You

Ted 2 picks up six months after the first film, with John (Mark Wahlberg) having broken up with Lori (Mila Kunis) since we last saw them, (Kunis had to drop out of the film due to being pregnant) and Ted marrying his long-time girlfriend Tami-Lynn (Jessica Barth). Ted’s marriage is going well till the problems with domestic life (mainly finances) start to cause troubles with his marriage, and he thinks that the only way to solve these problems is to have a child with Tami-Lynn. After some legal and physical problems, the only option for Ted is to adopt, which brings up the issue that he is legally not a human, thus lacking any human rights.

Source: Universal Pictures
source: Universal Pictures

This leads to a legal showdown with the government, where the gang is helped by stoner newbie lawyer Samantha (Amanda Seyfried). Whilst this is going on, there is a pointless subplot which brings back Donny (Giovanni Ribisi), the antagonist from the first film, who tries to kidnap Ted so he can have Hasbro (the toy company) mass-produce him. It’s a subplot which tries to heighten the tension and stakes in the film. The main plot already provides that, though, and with the Donny plot being largely a re-do of the first film with lesser laughs, it feels like something that could’ve been left on the cutting room floor. It ultimately has no real payoff and never properly ties into the main plot in a way that matters to the audience.

It Goes On and On

That kind of highlights the biggest problem with this film: it’s way too long. At two hours, the film’s plot meanders at times without enough laughs or energy to keep that time propelling at an interesting level. The film’s main plot (Ted obtaining his human rights) takes half an hour to set up, the courtroom scenes are way too long for the small amount of plot they provide and the Donny subplot drags the film out longer than it needs to be. One example of MacFarlane not knowing on how to cut his film down: the film opens with a Busby-Berkeley-esque opening musical number, which technically is used as the films opening credits, but it’s a full five-minute sequence that lacks any meaning within the film, and is only here to fufill MacFarlane’s obvious deep love for classic musicals, which is an obsession seen in all of his works (Family Guy is known for its self-indulgent musical numbers).

The film takes a while to get going plot-wise, with the first half hour dedicated to Ted and John tackling different ways to get Ted a child, which is something that could’ve been significantly cut down, as it gives a sense of meandering when it has been 30 minutes and the film still lacks any sustainable plot. Once Ted 2 finally gets to its main plot, it mainly features episodic-like segments trying to justify Ted’s humanity which don’t move as quickly or energetically as the other moments in the film.

Source: Universal Pictures
source: Universal Pictures

These scenes provide frequent comparisons to the issues that LGBT and African-American people have gone through, which, when compared to the character of Ted, a lazy stoner teddy-bear, is weak to lay the political messages on. That’s the other big problem with this film: it’s quite preachy. It’s fine for MacFarlane to try and say something through his comedy, but his points about society and the definition of humanity through law is frequently undercut by his politically-incorrect humour which, instead of adding levity to the situation, makes the audience second-guess his intentions and not take his points seriously.

Hey Look, It’s That Guy

Other issues with the film include MacFarlane’s reliance on pop-culture for most of his humour, as well as a cavalcade of cameos rotated frequently throughout, with some substantial roles in the film feeling like cameos due to their lack of contribution to the overall story. Morgan Freeman is promoted in the trailer and poster as being a key cast member, but his presence in the film merely feels like a five-minute cameo, purely for audiences to respond: “Oh, it’s Morgan Freeman!”. Other cameos include Tom Brady, Liam Neeson and Flash Gordon‘s Sam J. Jones, reprising his role from the first film. These cameos don’t provide much comedy, with the Liam Neeson scene being one which has a funny concept and probably looked good on paper, but is still lacking in its execution.

Source: Universal Pictures
source: Universal Pictures

Overall, Ted 2 does have some funny parts and at least tries to be different enough from the first one. Whilst the Donny subplot is a re-do of the first film, the main plot actually tries to tell an original story, with one smart decision being switching the main protagonist. Ted was John’s story, and now Ted 2 is Ted’s story, with John, whilst having his Samantha love interest plot-line, mainly acts as a second banana to him, which makes the overall plot seem original enough and refreshing to see in a blockbuster sequel.

It’s Not All Bad

Some of the movie homages sprinkled throughout the film (Raging Bull, Thief, Jurassic Park and more) are pretty funny, even if most of them may fly over the heads of MacFarlane’s intended audience (The Raging Bull steak-scene homage is played so straight that younger misinformed audiences may be confused by MacFarlane’s dark tone shift within the scene). When the writing goes towards more arbitrary, random humour rather then the juvenile ‘pot is cool’ farce, it works a lot better, with some recurring jokes actually working quite well (which means MacFarlane might’ve learned something from the criticisms of A Million Ways to Die in the West).

The Verdict

Ted 2 is a bloated meandering attempt by Seth MacFarlane to infuse his politics with his comedy on a mainstream level, to average results. Attempting to bring an original idea for a comedic sequel rather then a simple re-do of the first film is commendable, but the plot is too sparse and loaded with predictable subplots to justify its two-hour screening time. Whilst the cast are fine and the film includes some clever jokes throughout, the base level adolescent humour weakens it severely, and its reliance on pot smoking being the coolest characteristic of a person really diminishes the smarter, more adult political points which are trying to be made. The simple thing at the end of the day: if you liked the first Ted film, will you like this? Probably, most likely. If you didn’t? Not a chance.

Can you think of any good comedy sequels?


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