APSmith507
Posts: 1
Joined: 27/1/2010
From: Essex
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‘Ted is the funniest film I have ever seen!’, ‘I have never laughed so hard in my life!’, ‘You’ve gotta see it! I guarantee it will, literally, have you rolling around in the aisles!’. These are just some of the things that I was hearing about the ‘comedy of the summer’ by the creator of the hit-anicom Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane: Ted. So, you can imagine that I went into the screening expecting to come out with a six pack from laughing so much. And did I? Nope. Did I laugh at all? A few times. Is it the comedy of the summer that will, literally, have you rolling in the aisles? No. For me anyway.
Don’t take from that first paragraph that I didn’t like the film, albeit it does seem like I have set the tone for the rest of the review. There are some funny moments in Ted, like the hooker’s dare, the fat kid running and the odd name-call, but other than that it was pretty laugh free. To be fair, my sense of humour is very specific, where the only thing that makes me howl with laughter is Larry David’s whinging and moaning Curb Your Enthusiasm. Maybe it’s my age. 18. Thanks for asking. But, that’s not to say I’d call Ted a bad film. Where it comes at its best is in the more dramatic moments, which make you feel moved. I, personally, think that MacFarlane actually does drama better than comedy, when he wants to make it moving, it will be moving. This is most evident in one of my favourite episodes of Family Guy, which (as fans will know) is Brian (the talking dog, if you don't know) offering to give away his kidneys to Peter, knowing that he will die if he does so. That episode bought me to tears, and not of laughter. One of the most moving moments in Ted is the separation between John and Ted, whom have been best friends for 27 years, which seems to have an echo of Toy Story (although I don’t seem to remember Andy and Woody singing the Thunder Buddies song).
But, I think it is Family Guy et al that is the problem here. Obviously, being the creator of Family Guy, American Dad and a bunch of other spin-offs (that have such low ratings, even Channel 5 are saying 'no thanks'), there is going to be an inevitability of an overbearing sense of these TV shows within the film. Now, most people would say ‘what’s wrong with that? Family Guy et al is funny’. Yes, it is funny, but why is it funny? Because of the cutaways? Because of the situations the characters get themselves into? Because of the stupidity of Peter Griffin? All those things, but primarily, what it all comes down to is the animation; the cute, furry and soft animation juxtaposed against the shocking things that the characters say and do. I can sense everyone disagreeing with me on that, but when you first saw Family Guy, 9/10 of you would have laughed with it for this reason. Now, in the matter of Ted, this is real-live action, with real people and real places, still with people saying shocking things, but without any of the cute animation to juxtapose it against. There is the odd bit of sweet music in the score and the whole point of Ted being a teddy bear is for this purpose, but after about 10 minuutes, you just see him as you would Mark Wahlberg or Mila Kunis (and if you don't, seeing him smoking pot will certainly disintegrate his cute image). The thing that I found most troublesome with Ted is the amount of swearing that was involved. I don’t have a problem with swearing at all, we all do it, in fact my second favourite film of all time is Scorsese’s Goodfellas, which famously has something like 300 ‘fucks’ in it, but swearing unnecessarily just doesn’t sit well, it doesn’t hit the ear right. Even in Family Guy, there is the odd bit of swearing, which again, is funny because of the cute animation blah blah blah, but here, it just feels too harsh. It’s like having vodka on its own – it tastes too strong, so you add a bit of coca cola to take the edge away and add a bit sweetness (which is what Family Guy does).
Ted isn’t a bad film, it’s just not a very good comedy (for me anyway).
< Message edited by APSmith507 -- 12/9/2012 8:31:04 PM >
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