TED

title: TED year: 2012 cast: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis rating: ***

A sweet little kid makes a wish that his teddy bear come to life, and he does. Skip twenty years later and neither are very innocent, hanging around smoking pot and watching TV. And “Ted” is no secret. He made big news back in the day so humanity’s used to a walking/talking toy (the special effects are amazing). He loves to speak his mind and makes life difficult for Mark Wahlberg’s John Bennett, an easygoing yet put-upon fellow with a lousy job and beautiful girlfriend played by Mila Kunis, who wishes her man, and living situation, was a lot more normal.

So Ted’s forced to get his own pad and the real problems begin: John prefers spending more time with his stuffed crony than his girlfriend. And who wouldn’t? Ted has endless pot and a raging party with John’s favorite cult celebrity... After which the duo calls it quits: John loses his girl and Ted his master, and the humor takes backseat to a creepy kidnapping much too convoluted for this kinda movie.

Not like TED isn’t fun when it tries to be – but the good times could have rolled a lot longer, and not all Ted’s politically-incorrect rants are as funny as the fact he’s saying them. And since we’re quickly dealing with the consequences of living the simple life, this often feels more like a sequel whose predecessor had a much breezier ride.

Because the scenes where Wahlberg and Ted (voiced by writer/director Seth McFarlane) sit around doing nothing are what makes this truly worthwhile. It’s too bad they had to grow up and actually care about something.