So the
‘Thunder-Buddies’ are back and this time the short and furry Peter Griffin and
Marky Mark are here for more dick and fart jokes but the biggest question on
most people’s lips: Is this more Ted 1 or more A Million Ways To Die In The
West? It’s not as bad as the critically maligned box office flop that was A
Million Ways to Die in the West, but it’s also not that good.
MacFarlane brings
us a second round of John and his lifelong buddy Ted, who are pretty much in
the same position as they were in the first film; they have made no progress as
characters whatsoever. Only this time Ted and his now wife from the first film,
Tami-Lynn, want to have a baby but unfortunately for Ted this does not work out
to be that easy. After several scenarios involving too many body fluids, Ted
finds himself in a position where he needs to prove himself, in the eyes of the
law, as a person.
Now look that’s
essentially the crux of the story but that is it in its entirety. The rest of
the film is just a series of short and punchy jokes and sequences that often
make no sense and have no real link to the film. Don’t get me wrong, there are
plenty of laughs and you will feel guilty laughing at many of these jokes but
honestly, the best joke of the whole film shows up in the first five minutes
and then it pretty much plateaus after that. Much of the movie plays out like a
series of sketches that never made it into Family Guy and often they feel very
out of place in relation to how the comedy and cutaways were handled in the
first film.
One saving grace
for the film is the comedic timing of Mark Wahlberg and the banter that he has
between himself and Ted but often when it’s not Wahlberg telling the joke, the
film really isn’t that funny. There’s an extended dance sequence at the
beginning of the movie and for a second you laugh, and then it sinks in that
this isn’t a joke and we’re being made to watch this well choreographed but
completely unnecessary sequence for the next five minutes. There are also many
other sequences that feel like they are a set-up for something else but are
then just forgotten about and never referenced again. Seriously, Liam Neeson
makes a cameo and references that he might be back but that never eventuates;
they come across a farm that feels like it is setting up to reveal a funny
celebrity cameo but nothing happens and there are just so many other plot holes
and moments that lead nowhere that you often wonder if the joke is supposed to
be on us as the audience.
Honestly for me
though, I feel that Seth MacFarlane lost what made his art form popular long
ago. Family Guy hasn’t really been funny in a long time and most of his jokes
and statements are often based on his own personal politics, I mean don’t get
me wrong, I agree with most of the things he believes in, but often he does
this at the expense of a good joke. As a storyteller, he conveniently wraps up
plot points the same way they would be done in Family Guy or an Adam Sandler
movie, as a joke-teller, MacFarlane seems to only be comfortable with a joke
when it’s being arbitrarily mean towards another person, even if that person is
a member of the cast.
And just touching
back on that Adam Sandler thing: if Mark Wahlberg had been played by Adam
Sandler, or Ted had been voiced by Adam Sandler, people would be tearing this
film apart for the disrespect Sandler shows to his audience in his movies; so I
don’t think Seth MacFarlane should be getting off so lightly for doing the same
thing as Sandler
Essentially, your
enjoyment of the film will really be dependent on how much of a fan you are of
Seth MacFarlane’s comedy, or how much of his comedy you are willing to tolerate.
For me, all I wanted to do after watching the movie was go home and pop in my
copy of the original film to remind me of how good it could have been.
Ted 2 gets One and a Half Stars (or One and a Half arbitrarily mean
references to Amanda Seyfried’s eyes)
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