Is it possible McFarlane must have handed the reins over to someone competent? Is it entirely possible McFarlane had someone with comic knowledge to guide him in to what it a superior sequel to an abysmal first film? “Ted 2” is surprisingly good. Much better than the first, and I say that as someone who genuinely dislikes McFarlane’s cheap excuse for comedy. Sure, “Ted 2” is still very much a McFarlane film with his personal stamps all over it, but it also manages a competent story and interesting characters. Hell I even cared about Ted this time around. I had rock bottom expectations for “Ted 2,” especially considering I loathe almost everything Seth McFarlane puts his hands on.
I found “Ted” unwatchable, while “A Million Ways to Die in the West” was even worse. “Ted 2” surprises by being raunchy without being too mean spirited, and also accomplishes some laughs without the requisite misogyny, and domestic abuse jokes McFarlane is so fond of. “Ted 2” works because it cuts out the improv and cleverer than thou crapola in favor of a story that’s sleeker, garners less filler this time out, and also improves on the interplay between Johnny and Ted. This time they’re just better comedy partners, and I enjoyed a lot of their interplay. One of the funniest moments, recycled “Family Guy” gag be damned, is when Johnny and Ted show up at an improv show to spout out sad and mean suggestions like “9/11!” and “Bill Cosby!” The sequel “Ted 2” belongs to Ted, whose entire plot is central to the movie.
Johnny is more a supporting character, now divorced from his wife (Mila Kunis is written off) and single. Ted is married now to Tami Lynn from the supermarket he works in, and they’re experiencing marital woes that are very serious. In fact shortly in to the movie they have a throw down that is played with a straight face, considering it’s a woman arguing with a stuffed sentient toy. Much of “Ted 2” contains McFarlane’s borrowed formula (from “The Simpsons”) for creating one narrative and breaking off in to the central one. Ted and Tami Lynn are unhappy in their marriage, and Ted is told the only way to fix their marriage is to have a child. When he and Tami Lynn attempt adoption, Ted is told he can’t have a child because he’s not human.
Thus he’s not recognized as a living being and has no rights, and no claims to ownership of anyone. There’s a lot of subtext about equal rights somewhere tucked in to jokes about semen, masturbation and pot smoking, but you forget it once you see Wahlberg and co throwing apples at joggers on the street while getting “shit faced.” McFarlane almost wants to say something relevant here, but he loses sight of it very quickly in a haze of eighties callbacks and sight gags involving eighties characters. It wouldn’t be a McFarlane joint without a tsunami of eighties nods. Thankfully the tidalwave is lighter this time out, while the main focus becomes Ted. We’re given a new love interest in the form of Amanda Seyfried who can shockingly hold her own against Wahlberg’s ace comic timing, as a lawyer/stoner who takes a liking to Johnny, and empathizes with the pair’s quest for civil rights.
“Ted 2’ is just twenty minutes too long, its fatal flaw being never knowing when to quit. After we go through what should have been the climactic civil rights trial, the movie just keeps going with a new conflict, new directions in the narrative, and the re-introduction of villainous Donny sans his bratty son. His sub-plot is pointless and unnecessary and goes nowhere very quickly. Giovanni Ribisi is usually a talented character actor, but here he brings down the momentum. “Ted 2” isn’t a masterpiece, but it goes a notch above mediocrity to enough of a degree where it’s funny, and often times a lot of fun.