Director: Seth MacFarlane
Year Released: 2012
Rating: 3.0
As a boy, Mark Wahlberg's character dreamed of having a best friend to play with, so he made a wish and his stuffed bear, Ted (voiced by MacFarlane) came to life, became famous ... and then became infamous for his hard-partying ways (arrested for 'shrooms!). MacFarlane's feature debut is an absolute delight, basically a live-action version of Family Guy, complete with flashbacks, movie references (Airplane!, Flash Gordon), running gags (Ryan Reynolds gets Cameo of the Year award) and potty humor - some seem to find this to be something to criticize, but I don't even care for Family Guy and think MacFarlane's quite able to keep his concept going for a feature-length movie. It hammers at its (obvious) message about arrested development (and letting go of one's childhood and moving into adulthood) and eliminating the Ted character would have 'completed' that thought, but MacFarlane can't resist a happy ending. And why not? The guy's a showman ... and a crowd-pleaser.
