Ted 2

Ted 2 - 115min - R

Ted 2....Oh boy. Seth MacFarlane is beating the Ted drum again. Someone take that thing away from him. So many times I have seen movies that were gems and when a sequel comes out it is missing its muchness. Watching makes me cringe at the sad, hollow sound of them banging the same drum over and over.

I didn't get a chance to see Ted and thought about skipping the sequel because I have been doing that a lot lately seeing things out of order however my blog is titled "What is Showing Next" for a reason, so I did. This felt like a pale attempt at a movie. The film got absolutely no laughs from me and the rest of the audience were only mildly amused with a few pity chuckles here or there. It's almost like the filmmakers had a few funny jokes, and they built the story around the jokes. It also felt like a cable episodic television show. The set up and the jokes were almost vignettes among themselves parading as a movie.

Seth McFarlane is a brilliant man and I know that he does the lowest common denominator humor so he can pay for things like Cosmos (which was brilliant) but he can and should do better than banging out sequels. Ted did well because it was something new and different he has the chops to make new and interesting material. You can see the same comedic timing that McFarlane is so good at, but it was still not enough to make this better.

I do want to go back and watch the original because if nothing else this film has made me interested enough in the characters to see the original. There was a good concept here. I just think they lost their way. I am intrigued to know how this bong-smoking teddy bear got its start. There are some jokes that are way offside, but McFarlane seems to have a bus pass to the topics that are at times too crass to be seen on screen.

I understand the appeal of this kind of movie I can see that this kind of humor works for a lot of people. When I go and watch it I have to take my cues from the audience and in this case they have given this movie a resounding yawn.

I want to take a look at the numbers for returns on comedy sequels and see if I can make a case for abolishing them except in the cases where there is an over-arching story arc that they are trying to tell.  Those obviously need them, but there beautiful one-offs that need to be left alone. Hold on.... I was thing of a different move there I am not saying Ted was a gem. I was thinking of The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. That movie was perfect and also didn't need a sequel.  I am going to watch Ted and get back to you if it’s worth your time.

Raunchy comedies have a hard time making a sequel that can match the first one. When you scrape the bottom of the humor barrel for jokes you don’t have much to work with. You can’t elevate the material because it loses the audience.  All you can do is rearrange the same level of jokes you had in the first one or change the location you tell the same jokes in.

Am I wrong?