Comedic sequels do not tend to be good. I think there are many reasons for this. One of them is that part of what makes something funny is that it is different. I mean different both in the sense that something can differ from other things of its type, but also in that it can differ from what one was expecting it to be. This uniqueness is strongest when that comedic concept is done for the first time. Not only is it difficult to come up with new ideas and jokes for a sequel but the freshness of the original will not be present. Ted 2 suffers from everything bad comedic sequels suffer from and then some.
I have never been a big Seth MacFarlane fan. I wasn't allowed to watch Family Guy as a kid so when I finally saw that show for the first time I had a lot of other comedy which I had seen, I found it quite underwhelming. I saw the first Ted in a college dorm and was surprised that it was actually pretty funny considering the low opinion I had of Family Guy. Unfortunately, Ted 2 is not only worse than Family Guy, it may be less funny than late period Family Guy.
There are jokes galore here but many fall flat and some don't even make sense. There are also plenty of pop culture nods but they are just that, nods. It's like we're being told "see how many famous movie scenes I remember". This isn't bad in and of itself but when those homages contain nothing clever or the hint of a joke they become shallow and frustrating. Also unlike many directors seem to think, watching people smoke marijuana does not by itself constitute a funny joke.
Amidst all of this is a strange plot about Ted trying to gain civil rights. It's played as some sort of allegory for the recent court challenges to gay marriage but it just came off as both ridiculous, in a bad way, and boring to me. Comedic sequels are not easy projects but you have to do better than this 1.5/5
