As John’s girlfriend Lori, who likes Ted but also wants to be a bigger part of John’s life, Mila Kunis brings depth and humor to what could have been a harridan part. Wahlberg and Kunis are so silly and sweet together that John’s dilemma becomes a fair and fully realized one: how can he balance loyalty to a friend he still appreciates while also fully committing to the woman he’s come to love?
There is a surprisingly gentle undercurrent to the movie that I didn’t expect. This was my first introduction to MacFarlane – being unfamiliar with his “Family Guy” animated television series – and I was happy to encounter this sort of emotional maturity. Less encouraging were the countless gay jokes and racists asides that suggest a lingering xenophobia, but I suppose when we’re talking about an R-rated comedy involving a swearing, pot-smoking teddy bear, we should take whatever sensitivity we can get…
Read the rest of the review at Larsen on Film.
