Saw ted last night with my niccas and I have to say:
For good and for naught: this is a Seth MacFarlane product and if you are familiar with his work, you know what to expect.
Lets start with the bad: 80's references are the main course here, people. Seth continues his obsession with making you relive the nostalgic moments of his childhood and much of the humor revolves around now obscure references; with a huge chunk of the movie dedicated to a running gag involving the cheesy 80's film adaptation of Flash Gordon.
There's also the usual MacFarlane-isms: the use of cutaways, a pointless overtly long fight scene, humor steeped in pop culture, race, sex, and body functions, references to Family Guy, and the usual absurdist gags.
However (onto the good)
a huge chunk of the movie is fun. When Seth lets the stoner childhood buddy relationship flow through Wahlberg and Ted, it shines very brightly. Ill give Seth props: he and his writers really stepped up their dialogue skills. Much of the humor is faster than typical MacFarlane fare and forces you to actually listen; and the absurdist atmosphere present in Seth's work is utilized excellently in certain key scenes (the ted's apartment party scene is the highlight of the movie and the culmination of what makes Ted enjoyable).
Also, a bit off topic: the casting director has a great eye for women. Several of the supporting cast and extras are damn good looking enough to have me out loud saying "who is that?"
Otherwise, Wahlberg, Kunis, and MacFarlane all deliver very well with what their given, and Giovanni Ribisi shows up to play an extra creepy stalker obsessed with Ted.
Ted is funny, yet sags when it has to put energy into the formulaic "choose childhood buddy or love" plot. Refreshing when it utilizes the better points of MacFarlane's brand of humor, but suffers in instances from that same brand. But I can't say I didn't enjoy myself.
My score: 6.5-7/10