As a long-time Family Guy fan, one might expect that I would approach this film with excitement, but this was not exactly the case. I think most would agree that in recent years the show has dipped in quality, becoming more and more cynical and predictable. It often felt that the series writers, including creator Seth MacFarlane, were uninterested, perhaps had moved on to want different projects. When I went to see Ted in the cinema, I was proven right.
Thank goodness for that.
Ted is a great return to form for director MacFarlane after years of middling TV work, delivering a solid (albeit reasonably predictable) tale of a man struggling to become an adult and leave his juvenilia behind. As represented by his magic, sentient pot-smoking teddy-bear. Yes, in this film MacFarlane does not stray far away from his tried and tested formula. There’s a pigheaded (male) lead character supported by a zany talking creature of some kind, indulging in on-the-edge offensive banter to a backdrop of 1980s pop culture gags. Certainly, there are few surprises in Ted, at least on the surface.
But what raises this film above the level of Macfarlane’s more recent TV entries is the absence of cynicism and slight laziness that has pervaded his work, replaced instead by characters who are less comically monstrous than they are misguided, attempting to deal with the tough choices of growing up and moving on from their past. Usually, when comedy makes the transition from TV to film, I find that injections of sentiment undermine the efficacy of the humour (take the slightly neutered Inbetweeners big-screen entry), but in Ted it somewhat validates the coarser, on-the-line moments, and adds some much-needed heart to the usual schtick.
This is by no means a perfect film; the conclusion is a little woolly, and a lot of the characters seem underwritten, particularly a sad underuse of the hugely talented Joel McHale, and an unforgiving wet-blanket role foisted on Mila Kunis. And yes, it is a similar to McFarlane’s TV shows. This will not convert any naysayers. But it is a good step forward for a first-time director, and above all a funny film. If MacFarlane is moving on from TV, I’m glad he’s at least travelling in the right direction.
THREE AND A HALF STARS
