‘Ted 2’ is more of the same bawdy bear

It has moments, but this is familiar territory now.

“Ted 2” reunites Mark Wahlberg’s insecurewallflower character (it’s called acting, folks) with the chubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff and racial, sexual, scatological and ’80s-reference insults voiced, with movie-saving acumen, by co-writer and director Seth MacFarlane.

“Saving” is relative. Madly uneven, more so than the mediocre 2012 hit that made half a billion worldwide, this one’s an easy predictive call. It’s not the same film, but it’s same-adjacent.

“Ted” was rated R for “crude and sexual content, pervasive language and some drug use.” “Ted 2,” on the other hand, is rated R for “crude and sexual content, pervasive language and some drug use,” though with MacFarlane’s interest in keeping his lifelong pals in the vicinity of a bong and a nonstop supply of weed, “some drug use” is relative.

The sequel opens with an absurdly lavish musical credit sequence, stealing from Fred Astaire and the Nicholas brothers, set to Irving Berlin’s “Steppin’ Out With My Baby.” Ted the magical talking teddy bear is celebrating his marriage to the woman he calls his “Bawston hoor,” played by gum-chewing Jessica Barth. John, played by Wahlberg, married Mila Kunis’ bland female lead in the first “Ted” but that union has been severed, and John’s alone and depressed and addicted to porn. What a lovable loser! Until you start dwelling on that particular detail.

Ted’s marriage to his fellow grocery store cashier sours as well, until the genital-free plush toy and his bride decide to have a baby. With full sincerity “Ted 2” believes in Ted’s own line: with a kid in an unhappy home, “it’ll teach us to love each other again.” Works every time.

The serious bits in “Ted 2” relate to Ted being revoked of his basic civil rights, his personhood, when the courts declare him to be property, not human. Parallels to Dred Scott, the legacy of slavery and America’s history of prejudice and intolerance are made.

I laughed three or four times, mostly at verbal byplay since director MacFarlane struggles when it comes to handling sight gags. And there’s a riff on F. Scott Fitzgerald that works mysteriously well.

I’ve seen worse comedies this year, and I’ll see better.