Critical Mass: Ted 2 mixes low-brow with lower-brow humor

 

 

In Ted, John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) was attempting to grow up and maintain a real job/relationship/life while his “thunder buddy for life” roommate, a magical cursing/smoking/humping bear, tempted him with hedonistic pleasures that held him back. But at the beginning of Ted 2, it’s the stuffed bear that’s finally acting his age—or, at least he’s getting married.
Married life isn’t everything he thought it was, however, and when Ted and his blonde new wife, Tami-Lynn, decide that having a baby will save their relationship, Ted and John embark on a medical-cum-political adventure to find a willing donor, navigate the pitfalls of adoption, and prove to the courts that’s he’s human. Obviously, it’s all very heady stuff—especially when they hire a pretty attorney named Sam L. Jackson (Amanda Seyfried) who shares their proclivity for the bong.
“Plenty of decent movies have been built on flimsier narrative scaffolding than Ted 2’s, but MacFarlane and writers Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild are smarter than a lot of the material they’ve come up with here,” writes EW’s Chris Nashawaty, in his C+ review. “MacFarlane, who takes such mischievous delight in thumbing his nose at the uptight guardians of political correctness that he almost seems to get off on turning himself into a target (most notably with his ‘We saw your boobs’ 2013 Oscar-hosting gig), tends to be sharper than the inoffensively offensive gags he tosses off here. Which is a shame because he’s just handing his detractors more ammo.” 
For more of Nashawaty’s review, and a sampling of other critics from across the country, scroll below:

Source : ew.com