Ted

Seth MacFarlane's Ted is an interesting idea that runs out of steam well before the final credits start to roll. Mark Wahlberg stars as manchild John Bennett. As a lonely child John wished his teddy bear would come to life and be his best friend. After his wish was granted and the notoriety and celebrity of a talking child's toy has worn down Mark continues to live with Ted (MacFarlane) almost 30 years later, much to the displeasure of John's current girlfriend Lori (Mila Kunis).

For all the uniqueness of crafting a story centered around a walking, talking teddy bear, Ted is fairly pedestrian in what the script sets out to do. Ted is nothing more than the average bad influence the girlfriend wants to get her boyfriend away from to start a legitimate life together. The story doesn't quite work because John is wholly responsible for Ted's existence, something Kunis' character should, but never quite does, understand.

We are also given unnecessary subplots involving Joel McHale as Lori's womanizing boss (in a company that obviously has no knowledge of sexual harassment law) and Giovanni Ribisi as a creepy lifetime fan of the teddy bear obsessed with acquiring Ted for his son (Aedin Mincks) which leads the final act of the movie into odd action-thriller territory the purpose of which is only to teach Lori a little tolerance to John's impossible to live with best friend.

The movie isn't without some charm, and several funny moments. My favorite of these is John and Ted's unabashed love for Flash Gordon which culminates in the pair meeting, and partying, with Sam J. Jones. However, even though the story is far more linear than an episode of Family Guy, MacFarlane's pop culture reference humor pops up from time to time as well (but feels even more random and mean-spirited when shoved into a more cohesive storyline).

Ted might make for an okay late night Redbox rental for fellow fans of Flash Gordon, but there's little here (with the possible exception of Jones' cameo) that I'd ever consider watching again. As a character Ted is far too one-dimensional and for a really interesting premise MacFarlane falls back on basic romcom cliches and far too predictable storytelling.

The "Unrated" Blu-ray includes both the original cut of the film and one with seven more minutes of raunchy content, digital and Ultraviolet copies of the movie, a behind-the-scenes featurette on the making of the film, deleted and alternate versions of scenes, a gag real, a short featurette on John and Ted's fight sequence, and audio commentary by MacFarlane, Wahlberg, and co-writer Alec Sulkin.

[Universal, Blu-ray $34.98 / DVD $29.98]