Ted 2

In familiar Family Guy style, Seth MacFarlane is not about to let a joke go without making sure to beat it all the way into the ground. While the original Ted was comedy gold, this one's closer to a bronze medal: a fairly steady steam of good laughs, but with just enough stupidities woven in--and recycled bits from the first--to take the overall quality level down a notch. And of course, in keeping with the flavor of both films, it probably helps immensely if you watch it when you're stoned.

A Million Ways to Die in the West

This movie way wind up being Seth MacFarlane's Bananas or Sleeper; it is like one of those early Woody Allen vehicles in which its auteur carves out a unique niche for himself and tells a story (and jokes) that no other filmmaker working today would or could. The laughs come consistently--occasionally uproariously--and from such a skewed angle that they're entertaining in their idiosyncrasy alone. The other interesting thing here is the performance by Charlize Theron, who has previously been good but never this likeable and approachable before. This is must see stuff for comedy fans...maybe not so much for the wilting flowers (raunch dominates the humor here; few of the jokes are suitable for "polite company").

Ted

A ‘yeah, but...’ movie. It’s a lot of fun, most of the time; it’s more brazen in its humor than most movies you’ll see, and that’s very respectable. So yeah, it’s good. But, it does start to take itself a little too seriously at a certain point. I might have enjoyed it more if it was just flat out, balls out, crazy shit all the way through, but it kind of pussies out in the end. Still, it would be nitpicking to downgrade it just for that. It’s more than good enough, and we’ll leave it at that.