Case Study #2 - Ted

TED REVIEW

Set in Boston, Massachusetts in the year 1985, John Bennett is a lonely boy who can't make any friends, one Christmas he receives a teddy bear from his parents and immediately grows attached to it. John names him Ted, and wishes one night that Ted could be alive; inexplicably, a shooting star passing overhead causes his wish to come true and Ted is alive the next morning, much to the fear and eventual jubilation of his parents. Due to his sentience, Ted becomes a star for a short period of time.

25 years later, John works at a car rental place and has continued a strong bond with Ted, which his girlfriend Lori doesn't like as she thinks their friendship, which includes mass consumption of alcohol and drugs, is keeping John mentally a child. On their four year anniversary, John and Lori come home to find Ted with a quartet of hookers one of them having defecated on the floor during a game of Truth or Dare.

Lori gives John a chance to prove he can live without Ted, and John relents, helping Ted get an apartment and a job at a grocery store which his rather crude and rash behaviour is praised and he is quickly promoted after having sex with a new cashier, Tami-Lynn while on shift. Their daily hangouts become frustrating to Lori as John uses excuses to cut out of his responsibilities and work early, she gives him a final chance.

Meanwhile, Ted is approached by a man named Donny and his overweight son Robert with an offer to buy him from John which they refuse. Lori and John attend a party hosted by her boss Rex, whose crush on her is frustrating to both of them. Ted calls and tells John that Sam Jones from Flash Gordon is attending a party at his house. John resists at first not wanting to hurt Lori, but Ted quickly convinces him to come meet their childhood hero. Once there, John and Ted join Sam in several shots of alcohol and drugs, escalating into a fist fight with Ted's neighbour Ming, who Sam mistakes for his movie's villain Emperor Ming. John soon realizes the time but before he can leave, Lori comes in and tearfully breaks up with him, breaking John's heart. Realizing Ted's influence is to blame he tells Ted to stay away from him and goes to live at a hotel.

A week later, Rex, still pursuing Lori asks her out on a date and she accepts, hoping to get over John. Ted comes to John and after John provokes Ted into a fight that ends with a lamp and television falling on John, they reconcile, they decide to interrupt the Norah Jones concert that Lori is attending with Rex to sing a special song to her, but he is quickly booed off stage, Lori ends the date with Rex and returns home.

The next day, Ted comes to Lori and tells her that John is lost without her and offers to leave forever if it would help their happiness. Lori considers this and leaves to meet John, but Ted is shortly thereafter kidnapped by Donny and Robert. Taken to their home, Ted has one of his ears ripped off by Robert due to his foul mouth but tricks the boy into playing a game of hide and seek, using the distraction to staple his ear back on and call John who had reconciled with Lori. They go to Donny's house just as they are escaping with Ted and the two give chase that leads them to Fenway Park. Ted is injured during the chase but manages to outrun Donny as they climb up one of the spotlight towers. Donny grabs Ted by the foot and accidentally tears Ted in half, who falls to the stadium floor. Donny escapes when the police show up as John and Lori frantically try to piece Ted back together. He admits that the two of them need each other more than they need him, and the magic that gave him life leaves him an ordinary teddy bear again.

Lori and John rush home refusing to accept his death, but they are unable to patch him up and accept that he is gone. That night as John sleeps, Lori makes a wish, and the following morning, Ted is revealed to be alive but manages to fool John into thinking he was resurrected mentally retarded. John exclaims that Lori wished for Ted's life back and she corrects him saying that she wished for her life back instead, and John finally proposes to her, Ted becomes the best man at their wedding while the ordained Sam Jones presides over the service and Ted finally realizes their place together.