Ted (2012)
Directed by Seth MacFarlane
John Bennett, a man whose childhood wish of bringing his teddy bear to life came true, now must decide between keeping the relationship with the bear or his girlfriend, Lori.
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He also makes a lot of funny references to great movies like “Star Wars” and “Raiders” as well as cheesy ’80s movies like “Flash Gordon” (a Universal Pictures release) even bringing in Sam Jones, Flash Gordon himself, for a hilarious party sequence.
It also is full of the show's rapid nonlinear asides and obscure pop-culture references, including Sam Jones of the B-movie "Flash Gordon" in a cameo similar to Mike Tyson's in "The Hangover."
MacFarlane, who directed and co-wrote the screenplay with "Family Guy" writers Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild, infuses "Ted" with a scattershot energy similar to what he brings to the small screen, with a handful of cutaway flashbacks, abundant pop culture references, an epic night of partying with "Flash Gordon" (1980) star Sam Jones and a hotel-room brawl presented with "Bourne"-like intensity.
The film also throws in lots of cameos (i.e., Ryan Reynolds !), pro-forma digs at current celebrities (Taylor Lautner) and such outmoded 1980 cultural references as " Flash Gordon " and an old jingle for Mounds and Almond Joy.
There's a heavy dose of '80s nostalgia that's capped off by repeated references to the 1980 camp classic Flash Gordon and features the star of that movie, Sam Jones, in costume (at age 58).
Fans of Family Guy will recognise other familiar faces and voices in supporting roles, along with MacFarlane's signature political incorrectness and constant pop-culture references (including a recurring jab at the 1980 shocker Flash Gordon).
He recalls it as a combination of An Officer and a Gentleman and Saturday Night Fever.
That specificity isn’t necessarily a flaw; just a reminder that Ted, like all of writer-director MacFarlane’s produce, traffics heavily in pop culture curios (he even goes so far as to spoof a scene from Flying High; itself already spoofing Saturday Night Fever ).
A disco flashback that seems to be referencing “Saturday Night Fever” is actually recreating the spoof of it in “Airplane!”
Like Family Guy, the film serves up cutaway digressions that are hilarious partly for being so unexpected; a flashback to John's first meeting Lori is cast in the form of homage to the Saturday Night Fever disco dance lampoon in Airplane!
It�s not enough to have a dumb Saturday Night Fever reference plugged into the center of one of the few scenes without the bear.
…doing a parody of John Travolta in"Saturday Night Fever" and while it earns points for nerve, nerve isn't everything in comedy.
Together, they're like fanboys who have refused to grow up, peppering scenes with references to Flash Gordon, Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Knight Rider plus pointed nods to Cheers, Airplane!
A flashback to the night John and Lori met, for instance, is a shot-for-shot (sound effects included) recall of a scene from 1980's monumental spoof movie "Airplane!"
A disco flashback that seems to be referencing “Saturday Night Fever” is actually recreating the spoof of it in “Airplane!”
Like Family Guy, the film serves up cutaway digressions that are hilarious partly for being so unexpected; a flashback to John's first meeting Lori is cast in the form of homage to the Saturday Night Fever disco dance lampoon in Airplane!
And mercifully, there's only one shot-for-shot movie reference: the bar scene from Airplane!
There's one scene in which Wahlberg does a parody of Robert Hays in "Airplane!"
In an obvious nod to "The Silence of the Lambs," Ribisi is seen doing a sensual dance while watching the music video for Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone Now."For a summer comedy that name-drops the Adam Sandler vehicle " Jack and Jill " before destroying it in a single sentence, it's amazing how many of the same traps "Ted" falls into, starting with its one-joke premise.
The pop culture references, from Brandon Routh’s Superman to Adam Sandler’s Jack and Jill, are generally spot-on.
In fact attentive viewers may be surprised to hear the cuddly waster mock Adam Sandler’s Jack and Jill.
It’s not mere coincidence that when Ted, the eponymous teddy bear-come-to-life voiced by co-writer and director Seth MacFarlane, invites a bunch of hookers over for a fun evening, the movie he puts on is Adam Sandler’s “Jack and Jill.”
Early on in "Ted," the titular walking, talking teddy bear (voiced by director/co-writer Seth MacFarlane) watches "Jack and Jill" with four prostitutes at his side.
The bear exists in the universe of the movie for no other reason than the movie thinks it's funnier to have stale pop-culture riffs delivered from the mouth of an unconvincing CGI stuffed teddy bear—hey, guys, did you know that Jack and Jill is awful?
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He recalls it as a combination of An Officer and a Gentleman and Saturday Night Fever.
It also is full of the show's rapid nonlinear asides and obscure pop-culture references, including Sam Jones of the B-movie "Flash Gordon" in a cameo similar to Mike Tyson's in "The Hangover."
And when actor Sam Jones, star of the ridiculous 1980 movie Flash Gordon, appears at Ted’s, the party is as outrageous as anything in The Hangover.
TED is one in a long line of recent comedies (“The Hangover,” “Due Date,” the “Harold and Kumar” movies, nearly anything with Adam Sandler) which celebrate immaturity and aggressive stupidity.
The merrily rude humor of Family Guy slides right into feature films with nary a burp nor a fart in Ted, a raucously funny goof about a boozing, pot-smoking, foul-mouthed teddy bear who would be instant new best friends with The Hangover guys.
In terms of depravity and raunchiness, there's nothing in Ted that one-ups the material in The Hangover or Harold and Kumar - but that's plenty far out on the tightrope for a movie about a stuffed animal.
The story of a grown man still attached to his magically talking teddy bear, "Ted" is a throwback to high-concept charmers like "Big" and "Splash," only with more profanity and bowel-movement jokes (and without Tom Hanks ).
The ridiculously funny, outlandish and inventive first film directed by “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane, who also co-wrote the screenplay, begins much like “E.T.” (and “Big”).
Woody Allen offers two definitions of comedy in Crimes and Misdemeanors , both ways of mocking the dislikable TV star played by Alan Alda and through him the celebrated writer Larry Gelbart, on whom the character is based.
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The story of a grown man still attached to his magically talking teddy bear, "Ted" is a throwback to high-concept charmers like "Big" and "Splash," only with more profanity and bowel-movement jokes (and without Tom Hanks ).
John and Ted lead an "Animal House"-like existence, inhaling wholesale quantities of weed and recalling their early years as " Flash Gordon " fans.