At best, comedy sequels have a mixed reputation. Like any other follow-up to a successful film, they are challenged with pleasing an audience that already has its own set of expectations and hopes for what this new chapter will bring. However, because comedy is inherently based on surprise, projects aiming to revisit the laughs for another round often fall short. Hew too closely to the original film, and the sequel feels like a tired retread. Venture too far afield, and the film risks alienating its existing fanbase. Ted 2 is the latest comedy sequel to attempt this balance, with expectantly mixed results.
While the first film used the titular living teddy bear (voiced by co-writer/director Seth MacFarlane) as a coming-of-age plot device for Mark Wahlberg’s John Bennett, Ted 2 sees the focus shift more directly onto Ted himself. He and new wife Tami-Lynn (Jessica Barth, reprising her role from the first film) decide to have a baby, only to find out that they cannot legally adopt a child because – as a sentient plush toy – Ted isn’t recognized as a person in the eyes of the law.
If that premise sounds simultaneously ridiculous and a bit too high-minded for a film that thrives on crude humor and stoner jokes, welcome to Ted 2. The film’s ostensible decision to hone in on Ted is a smart one, as his buddy John’s story was basically sewn up in the first film. However, the introduction of Amanda Seyfried as Ted’s lawyer and John’s new love interest undercuts even the overcooked civil rights allegory that is supposed to anchor the film.
Wahlberg and Seyfried have decent chemistry, but their connection comes across as far too vanilla in a film that tries so hard to be over-the-top and edgy. Moreover, the absence of Mila Kunis – who balanced out John and Ted’s antics with a dose of practicality and reason – truly hurts both John’s character development as well as the dynamic between the three leads. Even worse than that, Giovanni Ribisi needlessly returns as the Ted-obsessed Donny, who’s now working a plan even more convoluted and idiotic than the first time around.
With the story a jumbled mess of subplots that half-work, what saves Ted 2 is its moment-to-moment gags. The film unfortunately does reference the first film far too many times, offering variations or callbacks to jokes that worked better before, and even re-uses a couple jokes that will feel all-too-familiar to fans of MacFarlane’s Family Guy.
That being said, there is still enough juice left in the characters of Ted and John to help audiences forget the episodic structure and pointless nature of some of Ted 2‘s early plot developments. A handful of big stars make memorable cameos (no spoilers here!), and the film does move at a brisk-enough pace to distract from the larger issues the film faces in telling its story, allowing its go-for-broke approach to be fun even when it’s not laugh-out-loud funny.
Even with all its problems, Ted 2 is still a cut above McFarlane’s previous film, the tepid Western comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West. However, it ultimately fails to match the endearingly goofy (and ultimately resonant) tone of the first Ted. Its sequel may not be able to dodge the pitfalls of comedy follow-ups in general, but it almost doesn’t make the prospect of Ted 3 entirely unwarranted either.