Mark Wahlberg’s Raunchiest Movie Just Hit Netflix

Ted is on Netflix. Unlike most cuddly stuffed animals, the raunchy comedy starring Mark Wahlberg has become a cult classic of sorts.

Released in 2012, the film stars Wahlberg as John Bennett, a man whose childhood wish of bringing his teddy bear to life came true. He reached a dilemma when hit with the reality of choosing between the bear, Ted, or his girlfriend, Lori.

A sequel was released in 2015 based on the success of the first film. Ted earned more than $500 million by the end of its theatrical run against a budget of just $50-$60 million.

Despite the raunchiness of the film, critics gave it rave reviews for being funny and unique, as noted by The Guardian. The reviewer noted at the time that Ted was “misanthropic, crass, facetious, offensive, immature and very funny.”

On the sequel, Wahlberg says it was an easy yes, noting the script was too funny to escape. Ironically, he almost didn’t do the original film, as his wife, Rhea Durham, was against it. 

She thought it would ruin his career. He told TODAY in 2015 ahead of the sequel’s release: “It’s hard to pitch this movie. I don’t care how good you are — you can take the best marketing people in the world — you say, ‘A guy wishes his teddy bear [would come] to life and they hang around and basically watch TV and talk crap about people.’ It sounded ridiculous,” he said. Luckily, Durham came around: “Then she saw the movie and she absolutely loved it.”

While most people are hesitant to do a follow up, fearing it wouldn’t top the success of the first, he didn’t have those reservations. “For me, the rule is if you can make it better than the first, then it’s worth doing,” he said in the same interview.