Due in large part to Ted’s negative influence, John is going nowhere fast. Not only has he so far failed to put a ring on it, professionally he’s underachieving in his work as a car rental agent. That’s hardly surprising, since he tends to spend a large percentage of the workday smoking pot with Ted.
Along with a love of illegal substances, MacFarlane endows the anything-but-cuddly Ted with a foul mouth and a taste for the company of prostitutes. Though he eventually displays good intentions and even self-sacrificing concern for John’s best interests, Ted’s loutish ways endure. Presumably meant to register as amusing, they instead grind against the grain.
The film contains occasional irreverence, a benign view of drug use, cohabitation, brief upper female and rear nudity, a same-sex kiss, much sexual and scatological humor, numerous uses of profanity and pervasive rough and crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
Mulderig is on the staff of Catholic News Service.
