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| UNIVERSAL PICTURES Mark Wahlberg, left, is shown with the character Ted (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) in a scene from "Ted." |
There are many reasons we go to the movies—to be thrilled,
to be scared, to think, to learn, to see the future, to visit the past, to
travel to foreign countries and worlds, and one that never seems to get the
respect afforded so many others, to laugh.
Being funny is hard, hard work, especially in a movie, when
you're working without any real audience feedback until late in the process. If
the timing is off or if a couple jokes bomb, that's serious trouble. Sometimes,
a movie can be so bad it's funny; a comedy aims to be funny, so when it's bad,
it's simply bad.
This is all to say that a good comedy—even if its goal is no
loftier than to make us laugh—deserves more praise than we often give it. There
should be no shame, even in the snootiest of film circles, in wholeheartedly
recommending a movie about a man's friendship with the teddy bear that
miraculously came to life when he was a boy—if said movie is bursting with
laughs and tells a satisfying story.
I've just described "Ted," the feature-film debut
of "Family Guy" mastermind Seth MacFarlane, in which young,
friendless John Bennett makes a Christmas wish that gives him a best friend for
life. This walking, talking stuffed animal becomes a media sensation, but 27
years later, Ted (voiced by MacFarlane, doing just a slight variation of
"Family Guy's" Peter Griffin) has gone from trading quips with Johnny
Carson on "The Tonight Show" to being the boorish roommate a
35-year-old John (Mark Wahlberg) just can't bear to get rid of, even though the
bear's presence obviously is wearing on his relationship with Lori (Mila
Kunis), his girlfriend of four years.
