Three stars. Rated R, for drug use, crude and sexual content, and pervasive profanity
By Derrick Bang
Let’s cut to the chase.
Films like this are critic-proof.
If you enjoyed Ted — if the notion of
a foul-mouthed, substance-abusing stuffed bear hit your sweet spot — then you’ll
certainly enjoy this sequel just as much. Perhaps even more so.
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| En route to New York, in hopes of getting some desperately needed legal assistance, John (Mark Wahlberg), Ted and Samantha (Amanda Seyfried) playfully bicker about who gets to drive next. Naturally, Ted wants his turn behind the wheel... |
But if equal-opportunity race-,
gender- and religion-baiting profanity and vulgarity are apt to send you into a
froth, prompting letters to your Congressperson regarding the dangerous decline
of Western civilization ... better steer clear.
Hey, I thought 2012’s Ted was a giggle. At times. The same is
true of this one. That said, both films suffer from the malady that often
afflicted Monty Python’s big-screen efforts: the tendency to exploit a joke
that’s amusing the first time, by beating it to death. Most potty humor does not become funnier through repeated
exposure.
At 106 minutes, Ted was at least half an hour too long.
At 115 minutes, this sequel is at least 45 minutes too long.
It’s simply impossible to shake
the feeling — in both cases — that an admittedly hilarious Saturday Night Live sketch has been stretched way beyond its ability to amuse.
Still,
creator/director/co-scripter Seth MacFarlane deserves credit for fitful
attempts to stretch the envelope. This new film’s Busby Berkeley-style opening
credits are quite a surprise, well deserving the special credit given First
Assistant Director David Sardi. (I suspect, however, that those who show up for
Ted’s profanity-laced tirades will be bored by these credits, despite their
choreographed opulence.)
A few surprise guest stars are
cleverly used, notably Jay Leno and Liam Neeson, both of whom obviously have a
healthy sense of humor. Michael Dorn does some very cute stuff with his longtime Star Trek persona. Sam Jones also returns, playing himself and
still capitalizing on his long-ago stint as Flash Gordon. Always a funny bit.
And — wait, could it really be
true? — the script actually flirts with honest-to-God social relevance. MacFarlane
and co-writers Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild paint with awfully broad strokes,
but they definitely score a few provocative jabs at discrimination issues.
That’s unexpected, given the delivery system’s overall tone.
On top of which, I never tire of visual
effects supervisor Blair Clark’s impressive work. It’s one thing to fabricate
imaginary creatures on distant planets or alternate-universe fantasy realms:
quite something else to so seamlessly integrate an 18-inch stuffed bear into
our own workaday world. Hey, I’ll buy into the premise: Ted is real.
He simply isn’t somebody with
whom I wish to spend so much time.
