Hall Pass dares to ask the question: can a film feature someone farting so hard shit explodes all over a wall and still have something to say about the human heart? Well, yes – so long as what it’s got to say about matters of the heart comes direct from a fairly stupid greeting card.
The Farrelly brothers have been mixing gross-out comedy and relationships since There’s Something About Mary (still easily their best film), but while their style of comedy still reigns supreme their star has waned in recent years, largely because… well, let’s start at the start.
Richard Mills (Owen Wilson) is a loving husband and father with a bit of a wandering eye. His best friend Fred (Jason Sudeikis) is the same only more so, and their wives – the alarmingly fake-tanned Jenna Fisher and Christina Applegate respectively – are getting a little tired of it. Via some extremely clumsy exposition they’re introduced to the idea of giving their husbands a “hall pass”: a week off from marriage to remind them how scary and difficult it is being single. The guys jump at the chance and the scene is set for some Hangover-style hijinks, right? Right?
Okay, the guys do get stoned on a golf course, get drunk at a bar, make references to “big mouthed vaginas”, beat off in a car parked out on a street, get attacked by a crazed near-midget, have a giant penis waved in their face and eventually start to maybe get close to the chance to score with women they’re not married to, but it doesn’t take long to realise that, much like the guys in the film, the film itself feels a little too conflicted about the whole idea of a hall pass to really have fun with it.
This is the kind of film where there are boobs – on Aussie actress Nicky Whelan – but the person who gets to see the boobs, rather than touch them, decides he instead really loves his wife and family and must leave instantly to be with them.
If this makes you go “awww”, what are you doing at this film? Oh right, your boyfriend wanted to see it. Which explains why this is full of supposedly funny moments that never add up to much actual fun: this is a date film, and a date film can’t possibly seriously suggest that being in a long-term relationship might actually be soul-crushingly boring. So the guys can’t have any real fun on their break – they’re just mocked and punished over and over again for daring to be dissatisfied with their lives. The wives don’t fare much better, though considering Applegate gets the immortal line “I believe between the hours of 10 and 6 it’s a woman’s job to fake everything” they hardly deserve a free ride either.
It’s a decent enough concept and occasionally there are glimpses of just how funny a film that really ran with that concept could have been, but with the Farrelly’s not being anyone’s idea of subtle (which is why their star has faded: their characters are too cartoony for Apatow-style comedy from the heart) and Wilson giving an oddly subdued performance the whole thing never really gets going.
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