Hall Pass Review

Hall Pass

Hall Pass is the new lowbrow, high concept comedy that dares to ask “What if your significant other gave you a week off from marriage?” It’s a far-fetched idea and the film’s success hinges on the questionable scenario’s execution. The suspension of disbelief is impossible to achieve if the audience isn’t invested in the main reason behind it all. The film’s directors, The Farrelly Brothers (Kingpin, The Heartbreak Kid), never come close to selling the ticket buying audience on this asinine conceit, leaving the movie hollow and near to pointless. You really should just pass on Hall Pass.

Rick (Owen Wilson) is your average middle-aged man with your average middle-aged issues. With an exhausted wife and three exhausting kids, Rick’s marriage is on the stagnant side and he spends a little too much effort comparing gawking notes with his best bud Fred (Jason Sudeikis). Gawking notes are pointers on how to look at women without getting caught by the Missus, you see? One night when the boys are over for poker night Rick is overheard reminiscing about his bachelor days by his wife, Maggie (Jenna Fischer), who decides that maybe a little time off is what is needed. Hence, the hall pass and Rick couldn’t be more excited.

With all the freedom his can handle, Rick hits the singles circuit and doesn’t really know what to do with himself. Nights spent trolling the local Applebee’s end fruitless and Rick begins to realize that his foggy memories of single hood are misleading and actually quite lonely. Unfortunately Maggie has the week off as well and while she gives Rick his space she realizes that maybe she needed a hall pass as well.

The Farrelly Brothers have delivered film that illustrates the sad fact that they have grown tired and out of ideas. This is the team that brought you There’s Something about Mary and Dumb and Dumber, hilarious films that popularized “gross out” humor in the mid-nineties but they haven’t had a real hit in more than a decade. There are plenty of moments in Hall Pass that are gross and over the top but they play out as stale and flat. It’s like the Brothers are trying to recapture the glory days but instead they come across as parodies of themselves.

The lack of a reasonable explanation behind the main concept is a real problem and it becomes impossible to invest in what is going on. There is a weak reason given- some nonsense about a reactance theory- but it is far too weak. Bits feel disconnected and there isn’t much continuity between scenes. There is also a major tonal shift towards the end of the film when everything becomes “madcap” and “zany” for no apparent reason. The comedy goes from being situational to relying on punches to the face and crowbars to the head.

The cast does their best and there are a handful of laughs to be had, especially at Sudeikis’ expense. Jenna Fischer is solid as Maggie and deserves better and bigger roles. Wilson plays Rick tight and reserved, with his short sleeve button up nice and tucked in, but never really hits any sort of stride. In an attempt to try something new and leave his persona behind, he doesn’t show us any persona at all. He wanders through the proceedings with a disbelieving demeanor that does nothing to make the film credible. The real question that Hall Pass should have answered is “Why would your significant other give you a week off from marriage?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvqbOPX3wBs