Bill I’s Review – 3 out of 5
Very funny as well as fun, although not as many hilarious moments as I had hoped for. The memorable fight scene between Ted (aka the teddy bear) and his childhood buddy Mark Wahlberg is uniquely done, kept me laughing and incredulous. Kind of made me wonder towards the end of the film when Ted is unable to defend himself against a couple of minor goons, where did his fighting instincts go. Mila Kunis is wonderful as always, although in a thankless role of not even straight man/woman, but the exasperated girlfriend who’s too often the odd man/person out in this buddy film. It’s a romantic comedy at heart, however, which follows the hollywood script of boy meets girl, etc. To make this a great movie, they should have employed some of Sasha Baron Cohen’s go for broke sensibility, or at least borrowed his best writers.
Bill C’s Review – 2.5 out of 5
I can think of a lot of words to describe this movie: rude, crude, funny, politically incorrect, and nostalgic. Ted has a lot of very funny moments but, as Bill says, not as many hilarious moments as I expected. And of course it’s stupid. Not just because it’s a movie for adults (this is not for kids) about a living teddy bear, but because of things like Bill points out with Ted’s ability to protect himself. They also couldn’t keep the weather straight. In one scene Ted is getting soaked in a rain storm. In the next scene just fifteen minutes later, they’re at an outdoor concert and the weather is beautiful. In a later scene there’s a thunder storm and another fifteen minutes later, Mila Kunis is gazing in a Boston sky that has not seen so many stars since the invention of the light bulb!
I was surprised by all the cameos in this movie: Norah Jones (she must really have wanted publicity for her new album), Tom Skerritt, Ryan Reynolds, Johnny Carson (in a very funny Forrest Gump-like appearance) and Sam J Jones of Flash Gordon fame. There are a lot of funny references to old movies, TV shows and commercials and I loved the pictures of Ted and John in movie scenes in the opening credits.
As far as performances go, I thought Ted was awesome. He can sing, dance, fight (sometimes), showed great range and did his own stunts! Mila was wasted. I learned that Mark Wahlberg can talk very fast and that Sam Jones still can’t act.
This movie would be best seen at a theater like the Alamo Drafthouse, with a bucket of beer to let you focus on the funny moments and forget the stupid ones. Unfortunately I saw this at a regular theater. Otherwise I might have rated this a little higher.