Ted

Seth MacFarlane's feature length cinematic debut was always going to draw some (perhaps unfair) comparisons with the various TV series that made his name, yet instead of going out of his way to avoid them, Ted deliberately provokes them, featuring Family Guy references by the bucket load, and including a vast proportion of the cast taking cameo or even lead roles. It does also fall foul of some typical MacFarlane issues, such as the highly American biased humour which may leave international audiences somewhat in the dark. The remainder does benefit from his more standard brand of controversial comedy, though some moments do feel more like misses than hits. The result is certainly one of the more surreal movies of the year, and in my opinion, not overly warranting of the critical acclaim. I may be slightly snobbish, but I'm not a massive fan of the constant drug use, and the story does seem to play pretty predictably with a relatively standard 'romance versus bromance' plotline without a big enough comedic payoff. With the second instalment recently confirmed, it'll be interesting to see how they manage to turn this into a fuller franchise without having to resort to ever more base levels of stupidity for increasingly cheaper laughs. Crikey, I am a snob.



The sad thing is, the first thing I noticed about this scene in the movie was the Axe (Lynx) shampoo in the background. Work to live... Work to live.