Ted 2

Ted 2 is the latest film from Seth MacFarlane, best known for his work on Family Guy.  Ted 2 is the sequel to the movie Ted, where, as a child, John (Mark Wahlberg) makes a wish that his teddy bear  was alive. As an adult, John struggled to put away his childish things, including Ted, in order to win the woman of his dreams. The movie ended with them getting together.

Ted 2 starts as Ted (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) is marrying Tami-Lynn (Jessica Barth).  There’s a huge self-indulgent dance number that mirrors the production style of Busby Berkeley, which, for some reason doesn’t include Tami-Lyn.  John is divorced, and has given up on love.  Cut to several months later, where Ted and Tami-Lynn are fighting over money, and can’t seem to reconcile their differences.

Ted is convinced by a fellow cashier that having a baby with Tami-Lynn will be a great way to reconnect. Ted, unfortunately, is unable to father a child (he’s a stuffed bear, after all), so he and Tami-Lynn (with John’s help) try several alternatives before deciding to adopt. Their application sets off all sorts of red flags in the Massachusetts government, who retroactively declare Ted is not a person, and is therefore without any rights as a human. His marriage is annulled, and he’s fired from his job.

John and Ted seek help from the top law firm in Boston. The chief partner turns them down, but directs them to a novice lawyer to the firm, Samantha Jackson (Amanda Seyfried).  This will be her first case, and she’s determined to win it.

I’ll point out that this is a Seth MacFarlane comedy.  He has a style of humor that not everyone likes.  Generally, he throws out a lot of jokes. He never lets up and will often shift gears to some new comedic build. There are some very memorable jokes, some spoiled by the trailer, but there are a plenty more. There are a ton of cameos in the movie, and almost all of those are funny and cut right to the core. There’s a fight in the movie that could have been brilliant, but it’s not the focus of the scene, and falls flat because the elements don’t receive enough focus, in my opinion. Some of them are so rapid fire that are ‘blink and you miss it’, so I will await a repeat viewing so I can catch them all.

I do recommend this film, but only if you’re a Seth MacFarlane fan and/or are nerd, because there’s plenty of nerd humor sprinkled throughout the film.  MacFarlane’s sense of humor isn’t for everyone, but you’ll know this is his movie. I couldn’t remember most of the jokes, but I do remember laughing to myself a few times throughout the movie. The cameos save this film from being just a moderately amusing also-ran.

There is a post-credits scene that just floored me (it probably won’t do the same for anyone else, though).

 

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