The humour in the sequel to Ted is what we have come to expect and either love or hate from Seth Macfarlane, The 'Family Guy' type of wry sarcastic dark humour with a not so 'laugh out loud' quality but more with a 'think about issues and make them funny' angle, appeals to some but not all.
Seth basically allows himself humour about all subject matters and delves into free criticism of all things with a crooked metaphorical smile.
Ted 2's comedy is just as subtle, with the topics of racism (racial references), online media, drug abuse, political or legal corruption and gender differences or choices at play, and he dissects and exposes them in a quick and extremely subtle way.
The serious topic of civil rights is explored fully during the action antics of Ted and his crew: i.e the film questions what defines humanity and how to command its recognition, but the main theme which surprisingly comes to the forefront is actually a more deeply set psychological or existential one.
This comes across as mainly this: can we create beings from our ideas/minds and our will power, from wanting them badly enough? Is the human psyche so powerful that it can make a reality out of an inanimate object or a fantasy world. Can we validate our subjective feelings and make them real to everyone else?
Ted personifies the seemingly nonexistent person but through film and the power of imagination and the will of his 'co-pilot' the brilliantly versatile Mark Wahlberg, Ted comes to life universally and is ultimately recognised publicly and by the masses as real. He is validated somehow or gains validi-Ted through the love that Wahlberg has for him as a character in his own life.
This is paralleled by what films do for us: they create a reality for us on screen and make it valid.They create characters and make them real. Going a step further here, they create animated beings from inanimate objects. (Ted is no longer a teddy bear but a moving talking and conscious feeling real character).
The scenes and references to Comicon and to fictionally created figures and characters reinforce this idea of both children and adults alike feeling and creating their own world, validating it to each other through wanting it badly enough.
This is when emotional fiction becomes very real to each individual, through will power and empathy.
The very clever, 'noir' and silent hidden humour in the film is made more accessible to the audience through special guest appearances. Can you guess who? Firstly an actor renowned for his very soothing voice, and secondly a very serious looking actor.
The latter actor provides us in my opinion with one of the most entertaining and surreal short clip moments in the movie. This scene, ironically enough, is set at the supermarket counter over the purchase of a Trix cereal box- no pun intended with either Trix (tricks) or cereal (serial)-.You will know what I mean about the pun once you find out which actor I am referring to and think of his recent film sequels.
The most classic line in the movie for me was the one about women's eyes and what they tell men: some women have bedroom eyes (I am using the terms loosely here-not the actual terms used in the movie- as they were referred to a little more dramatically by Ted) and other women have 'my precious give me the ring eyes'.
I personally thought that was genius comedy from Seth (and team), both alluding to men wrongly reducing women to two categories but also to how in fact some women are either too easy going or just plain 'lord of the rings' psycho 'my precious' about commitment.
This is a taster of Seth's humour generally and does cause upheaval in some circles but frankly since he exposes all subject matters equally sarcastically, no one can accuse him of being prejudiced in any way. All things are funny when all things are ridiculed but not all things can be ridiculed when only a few are selected for humour ,if you get my drift.
Worth a couple of hours if you are in the mood for a taste of dark cynicism with a pinch of comedy 'noire'.
Seth basically allows himself humour about all subject matters and delves into free criticism of all things with a crooked metaphorical smile.
Ted 2's comedy is just as subtle, with the topics of racism (racial references), online media, drug abuse, political or legal corruption and gender differences or choices at play, and he dissects and exposes them in a quick and extremely subtle way.
The serious topic of civil rights is explored fully during the action antics of Ted and his crew: i.e the film questions what defines humanity and how to command its recognition, but the main theme which surprisingly comes to the forefront is actually a more deeply set psychological or existential one.
This comes across as mainly this: can we create beings from our ideas/minds and our will power, from wanting them badly enough? Is the human psyche so powerful that it can make a reality out of an inanimate object or a fantasy world. Can we validate our subjective feelings and make them real to everyone else?
Ted personifies the seemingly nonexistent person but through film and the power of imagination and the will of his 'co-pilot' the brilliantly versatile Mark Wahlberg, Ted comes to life universally and is ultimately recognised publicly and by the masses as real. He is validated somehow or gains validi-Ted through the love that Wahlberg has for him as a character in his own life.
This is paralleled by what films do for us: they create a reality for us on screen and make it valid.They create characters and make them real. Going a step further here, they create animated beings from inanimate objects. (Ted is no longer a teddy bear but a moving talking and conscious feeling real character).
The scenes and references to Comicon and to fictionally created figures and characters reinforce this idea of both children and adults alike feeling and creating their own world, validating it to each other through wanting it badly enough.
This is when emotional fiction becomes very real to each individual, through will power and empathy.
The very clever, 'noir' and silent hidden humour in the film is made more accessible to the audience through special guest appearances. Can you guess who? Firstly an actor renowned for his very soothing voice, and secondly a very serious looking actor.
The latter actor provides us in my opinion with one of the most entertaining and surreal short clip moments in the movie. This scene, ironically enough, is set at the supermarket counter over the purchase of a Trix cereal box- no pun intended with either Trix (tricks) or cereal (serial)-.You will know what I mean about the pun once you find out which actor I am referring to and think of his recent film sequels.
The most classic line in the movie for me was the one about women's eyes and what they tell men: some women have bedroom eyes (I am using the terms loosely here-not the actual terms used in the movie- as they were referred to a little more dramatically by Ted) and other women have 'my precious give me the ring eyes'.
I personally thought that was genius comedy from Seth (and team), both alluding to men wrongly reducing women to two categories but also to how in fact some women are either too easy going or just plain 'lord of the rings' psycho 'my precious' about commitment.
This is a taster of Seth's humour generally and does cause upheaval in some circles but frankly since he exposes all subject matters equally sarcastically, no one can accuse him of being prejudiced in any way. All things are funny when all things are ridiculed but not all things can be ridiculed when only a few are selected for humour ,if you get my drift.
Worth a couple of hours if you are in the mood for a taste of dark cynicism with a pinch of comedy 'noire'.
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