Movie Review: Hall Pass

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Saturday, 26 February 2011 20:58

Written by Lloyd Carroll

Hall Pass
Directed by: Peter & Bobby Farrelly
Starring: Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Jenna Fischer & Christina Applegate

By Lloyd Carroll

The brotherly directing team of Peter and Bobby Farrelly, who have brought us Something About Mary, Shallow Hal, Kingpin and Me, Myself & Irene among others, are back after a fairly long period of dormancy with Hall Pass. As has long been their wont, there is the usual amount of defecation, flatulence, vomiting and masturbation jokes and sight gags, but it seems as if they’ve gone to the well one time too often because the humor feels forced and contrived where in the past it seemed to flow seamlessly with the plot.

Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) are childhood friends from Providence, RI (the Farrellys’ hometown and the locale for nearly all of their films, although a lot of filming took place in Atlanta) and sell real estate and insurance, respectively. Rick is happily married to Maggie (Jenna Fischer) and has three kids while Fred (Jason Sudeikis) is similarly content with his wife, Grace (Christina Applegate).

Both guys, though, drive their wives nuts with their habit of ogling attractive women that they see in the street or in a supermarket. Maggie and Grace fear that their hubbies are getting a little bored with them. When they explain their fears to their friend, motivational speaker/psychologist Dr. Lucy (Joy Behar of ABC’s daytime talk show, The View), she tells them that they should give their men a hall pass. The expression, long used by students for giving them permission to go to the bathroom during class time, means in this case giving Rick and Fred a week off from marriage so that they can pretend to be single.

Rick is not happy with his wife’s proposal to spice up their lives, but Fred is all in after Grace gives him his hall pass. Their wives agree to go to Cape Cod for a week while Rick and Fred try to recapture their golden single days of a decade ago. Not surprisingly, they find that the realities of being alone don’t measure up with their fantasies.

Hall Pass generates some laughs and the film is watchable because of the film’s cast. Owen Wilson normally plays the goofball party animal in flicks, but he is surprisingly credible as the guy who is a homebody at heart. Jason Sudeikis, best known for being current cast member of NBC’s Saturday Night Live, is terrific playing Rick’s gung-ho wingman and taking the abuse and humiliation that comes with the role. Sudeikis reminds me in many ways of a charter SNL cast member who has gone on to have an enduring film and television career: Dan Aykroyd.

The film’s best moments come towards the end when veteran supporting actor Richard Jenkins shows up as the guys’ longtime friend, the eternal bachelor Coakley. Coakley, with his porkpie hat, black t-shirt and jeans, can read which women in a bar or dance club are interested in hooking up the way that quarterback Peyton Manning can read the most complicated of NFL defenses.

The biggest problem of Hall Pass is that it is rather predictable. It is not a major revelation that once people get married they still can find others attractive and even occasionally be a bit flirtatious. Frankly, there is nothing unnatural nor unhealthy about that. It is not giving away the store to report that Rick and Fred, who have always loved their wives, have a greater appreciation for them at the end of the movie. The Farrellys always make their lead characters easy for us to root for despite the trouble that they get themselves into.

I’ll give Hall Pass a passing grade in spite of its many flaws.

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