The first Farrelly brothers movie in four years is their most solid since the late '90s.
That isn't saying a lot after outings like "Fever Pitch," of course, and this comedy about middle-aged lameness shares a certain unexceptionality with its subjects. Unlike "There's Something About Mary" or "Kingpin," it doesn't leap from the screen and announce itself as the work of a singular (if two-part) comic mind. But, like a date night in which the baby sitter can only stay till 10, it'll do.
The movie, in which two husbands are plagued by fantasies about other women until their wives give them a week's vacation from monogamy, starts with a handicap: It relies on the premise that basically all middle-aged married men are fantasy-driven to a pathetic degree, obsessed with twentysomething titillation and convinced they'd be scoring with women constantly if not for their wedding vows.
Readers who know a man or two of this age might beg to differ. Regardless, these guys are about to learn what they're really made of, and "Hall Pass" happily chronicles the many ways they find to put off and flub seven days of attempted infidelity.
The Farrellys give Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis two pretty flimsy characters to play, and beyond their familiar amiability, neither actor adds much to the mix. Wilson's Rick, the story's hero, is, of course, devoted to his family underneath it all, and the actor charms us only when given the chance to reluctantly do the right thing.
The filmmakers stack the deck when it comes to the wives, Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate — filming them in unflattering light before the "hall pass" is granted, then sending them off to the countryside where they frolic in the sun and are made radiant by the attention of hunky baseball players.
There's nothing subtle about this parable of commitment and compromise, but at least it all rests on a foundation of obvious good-heartedness — unlike Adam Sandler's mean-spirited "Grown Ups," which concerned similar themes but didn't earn the good vibes it wanted to deliver in the end.
The Farrellys' censor-baiting style is in evidence here, with one outrageous full-frontal gag exploiting stereotypes about male anatomy and one shamelessly repulsive scene that bids to be this film's hair gel moment. But while that famous "Something About Mary" gross-out sprouted from a fascination with sex so juvenile and extreme it was almost innocent, this one's simply icky.
Fortunately, the scene's short enough to shrug off — much like the movie's ill-conceived experiment in marital rejuvenation, a bad idea that kills no one and leaves no scars.
"Hall Pass"
Our grade: B
Genre: Comedy
Running Time: 106 min
MPAA rating: R
Release Date: Feb 25, 2011
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