Ted 2 2015

Christy Lemire, ChristyLemire.com: If you liked the original Ted, Seth MacFarlane's 2012 surprise smash about a pot-smoking, potty-mouthed teddy bear, then you will probably like Ted 2. It is essentially the exact same movie, and more - and less. Read more

Wesley Morris, Grantland: [Seth MacFarlane's] sense of humor generally bodes about as well for moviegoers as a dorsal fin does for swimmers. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: I laughed a lot, if infrequently. Is a ballplayer who whiffs four balls but knocks the fifth one 500 feet worth watching? I say yes. Read more

Scott Foundas, Variety: In its own, sweetly subversive way, this might be just the tolerance plea America needs right now - a movie that says, in effect, "Love thy plushie as thyself." Read more

A.A. Dowd, AV Club: The comedy, as expected, is scattershot. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: The film, like most of MacFarlane's work, is a mix of occasional laugh-out-loud moments - there are some here - and cringe-worthy misfires that play a lot more tone-deaf than he seems to intend. Read more

Mark Feeney, Boston Globe: When Ted sits on his couch watching a clip from "Roots" and compares his situation to that of Kunta Kinte getting whipped, you may want to sink into your seat. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The movie is so indifferently plotted that it soon becomes a bore. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: I've seen worse comedies this year, and I'll see better. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: For a movie that pretends to address issues of what it means to be human, "Ted 2" is soulless at its core, a pure product. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: The uneven and overly long Ted 2 manages to find moments of uproarious, if raunchy and groan-inducing, humor from today's hot-button headlines. At its best, it's better than Ted 1.0. At its worst, it's like, well, a Seth MacFarlane movie. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: You realize what it must be like to be trapped in detention with a bunch of 15-year-old boys who think there's nothing more hilarious than repeating the same jokes about porn, pot, and pulling your pud over and over again. It's funny, until it's not. Read more

Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter: Ted's Boston-accented zingers are expertly delivered by the director/star, whose voice talent is undeniable, and Wahlberg again demonstrates that he's skilled at comedy ... Seyfried proves adept as well ... Read more

Rebecca Keegan, Los Angeles Times: While "Ted 2" is absurd and occasionally disgusting, it is also wickedly funny. Read more

Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press: In an admirable effort to go a different route, MacFarlane has instead done something hopelessly bizarre: He's given his film too much sincerity and story, and it practically crushes whatever fun does exist. Read more

Tony Hicks, San Jose Mercury News: I didn't want to laugh. I swear. But I did laugh at "Ted 2." A lot. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Sure, MacFarlane can write simple jokes as long as the 'f' key on his laptop holds out. Some of them are even funny. But a lot of them don't pay off, and most trod the same well-worn territory -- potheads, practical jokes, politically-incorrect cliches. Read more

Jacob Hall, New York Daily News: Once again, you will believe that a talking CGI stuffed animal can be a racist, hateful monster with no redeeming qualities ... but his greatest sin is that he's not funny. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Mr. MacFarlane can be funny, but "Ted 2" is insultingly lazy hack work that is worth discussing primarily because of how he tries and fails to turn race, and specifically black men, into comedy fodder. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The film fumbles its lame narrative and, although some of MacFarlane's jokes are hilarious, they're just blips on the radar. Read more

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: Mostly though, "Ted 2" feels like far too many other sequels: born of box office expectations more than a bona fide reason to return to the characters we loved the first time around. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: If you're ready to go with the hit-and-miss flow, you'll laugh your ass off. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: "Ted 2" is a loosey-goosey stoner road trip with an irrelevant, appealing blend of innocence and sweetness ... Read more

Soren Anderson, Seattle Times: In the midst of comedy, seriousness. The combination feels forced. A more disciplined and smarter director might have been able to successfully blend the two elements, but crude dude MacFarlane hasn't the skill to bring it off. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: MacFarlane is cynical, but he's not a cynic, and there are moments in "Ted 2" where you can sense a longing for the gentler and more upbeat entertainment of an earlier generation. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Wisenheimer advice! Don't miss this one, it's a riot. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Because one man's mirth is another man's poison, this critic can only consult his belly as the barometer. On a gut level, "Ted 2" is a funny film. Read more

John Semley, Globe and Mail: In a way, it's pitiable more than anything. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: If you didn't see and laugh at the first Ted, and maybe also at MacFarlane's button-pushing TV series Family Guy, then another movie deserves your entertainment dollars. Read more

Dan Callahan, TheWrap: Bad taste needs to be more honest and more all-inclusive if it's to make a lasting impression, and MacFarlane's bad taste here is both too wishy-washy and too knee-jerk cruel to really make any impact. Read more

David Ehrlich, Time Out: MacFarlane's preference for quantity over quality results in a lot of dead air, but the gags that land are howlers, and all of its crudeness (and racism, and sexism, and homophobia, etc.), the movie beats with a real heart. Read more

Brian Truitt, USA Today: MacFarlane and co-writers Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild have a gift for referential riffs, but the plot is the thinnest of narratives just to connect all the comedy bits. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice: I laughed and laughed at Ted 2 - as I did at the 2012 Ted - and I can hardly tell you what that says about me, let alone about you. Read more

Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice: Detestable even as it's charming and ingratiating. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: The trouble is, lazy, opportunistic writing can be distracting in its own way, and there's way too much of it in Ted 2 to fully ignore. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Less a spirited defense of tolerance and equality than a facile, only fitfully funny burlesque. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Some films aspire to high insanity. "Ted 2" aims low and hits the target, but also manages, in its scattershot way, to be gleefully resonant with our fevered times. Read more