Ted (**3/4)

Someone described this to be as perfectly geared to the sense of humor of a 14-year-old boy, although any such boy might have trouble seeing it without a parent or guardian. This person, neither 14 nor male, wasn’t meaning that as a compliment, yet couldn’t keep from recounting a few of the funny parts. It’s that kind of movie, about what you’d expect with a plot about a man living with a foul-mouthed teddy bear that came to life when he was a boy, especially if it’s directed by Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane. I've always found that Fox show more outrageous than actually funny, and some of the humor here, like the mildly homophobic gay jokes and ethnic humor, falls into that category. And some of the humor is basically watching a two-foot stuffed bear smoke pot and talk with a potty mouth…which can be funny, for a little bit. The bear, incidentally, has pretty much the same voice as McFarlane uses for Family Guy’s Peter Griffin.

The main human character is played by Mark Wahlberg. An overgrown child, he disappoints his employer and his girlfriend (Mila Kunis), though he has a good thing going in each case. Basically, he’s Seth Rogen in Knocked Up, but with an animated bear in place of the three roommates and a non-pregnant girlfriend. Adult-male roommates don’t complain about not having a penis, but some of the funnier moments are non-toy related. In one, Wahlberg rattles off about four dozen “white-trash names” in half a minute trying to guess who his best friend is dating. (Thus the complaint about the missing appendage.) Since there needs to be a story arc, eventually Ted finds himself in jeopardy. I suppose McFarlane is trying to pull off the same trick as in Lars and the Real Girl in which the absurd premise — dating a blow-up doll — becomes kinda sorta heartwarming. He doesn’t quite manage that, although it’s kind of sad to see even a non-talking stuffed bear lose a limb. On the other hand, notwithstanding that Lars had a sex doll as a main character, Ted has way more dick jokes. Beats it easily, in fact. If that sounds like a recommendation, you’ll enjoy this.

IMDb link

viewed 7/14/12 8:20 at Riverview and reviewed 7/21/12 and 7/24/12

Tetro (**3/4)

Right from the getgo, this movie gets your attention with black-and-white credits that look like something out of the French new wave. Only it takes place in Buenos Aires. Not what you expect from Francis Ford Coppola, the director of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, to say nothing of the 1996 Robin Williams dramedy Jack. Vincent Gallo, who once wrote, directed, and starred in the very entertaining Buffalo ’66 (as well as 2003’s notorious Brown Bunny), returns from near oblivion to star as the would-of-been writer sought out by a teenager (Alden Ehrenreich) looking for his brother. But the writer—now an underemployed lighting technician—wants nothing to do with any of his family, especially the father, a genius conductor played by Klaus Maria Brandauer in color flashbacks. (Coppola’s own father was conductor/composer Carmine Coppola.)

After 1997’s The Rainmaker, Coppola made no movies until 2007’s less-commercial Youth Without Youth, and this one is clearly also directed toward an art-house crowd. Even so, what starts out as a small sort of movie with three characters—the third being the live-in girlfriend, who insists on taking in the teenager—develops into a full-scale melodrama, complete with a scenery-chewing Ehrenreich nearly burning down an auditorium. Despite this, or maybe because of it, the big family-history revelations don’t pack the emotional punch intended. But the variation in moods, including light comedy at times, and the cinematic sweep of the end is not without its charms. It could be worth a look for those looking for something different.

IMDB link

viewed 7/1/09 at Ritz East (Landmark Theatres screening) and reviewed 7/9/09