Hall Pass

So if TV shows and films have taught us anything -- and I'd like to think they have -- it's that marriage is a hell-like situation from which there is no escape. A couple gets married, and then after years and years, things hit the fan. Everyone wants out. It's one of the oldest, most reliable jokes in comedy so what if there was a quasi-solution to the dull marriage issue? Uh-oh, here we go with 2011's Hall Pass.

With three kids, a solid real estate job and a successful marriage, Rick (Owen Wilson) has quite the life with his wife of 10-plus years, Maggie (Jenna Fischer). The marriage has become a little stagnant though, and on some advice from a friend, Maggie offers something a little out of the box. She offers Rick a 'hall pass,' a week where he doesn't have to be married and can do whatever he wants away from his wife and kids where even cheating is allowed. Rick is suspicious immediately, but he goes along with it. The next day, his best friend Fred (Jason Sudeikis) gets the same offer from his wife, Grace (Christina Applegate). So while Maggie and Grace head up to Maggie's parents in Cape Cod, Rick and Fred prepare to hit the streets as single men. What awaits these two? Can they sow their wild oats?

I can't say I actively avoided this 2011 comedy, but at the same time, I can't say I really wanted to see it either. An HBO subscription winding down has a way of making some movies more watchable, huh? In the end, I didn't love it, but I liked it a lot. From director-team the Farrelly Brothers -- Bobby and Peter -- the humor here is about what you'd expect if you've seen movies like Dumb and Dumber, There's Something About Mary, Stuck on You, Me, Myself and Irene, and Shallow Hall. Oh, you haven't seen those movies? The laughs are pretty raunchy, sometimes downright nasty, and often pretty juvenile. If you're a little squeamish about any number of graphic sex jokes -- including some full-on male genitalia -- with non-stop cursing, this probably isn't the movie for you. Steer clear, give it a wide berth, whatever you want to call it.

Beyond the low brow humor in all their movies, the Farrelly brothers have a knack for creating some surprisingly likable characters. Since the epic success of 2005's Wedding Crashers, Wilson has fallen on some tough times and hasn't had any truly memorable parts. I liked him here though as Rick, kind of an everyman in his mid-to-late 30s with a good job, beautiful wife and kids. That marriage has also become a little stagnant, and there's the story. Seeing Rick go through his week, we actually get a sense of.....gasp....character development! No, it's nothing ground-breaking, but it's an R-rated comedy. Take what you can get. From when he first appeared on Saturday Night Live, I've liked Sudeikis a lot. He has a way of playing not truly despicable characters, but close. A fast-talking motor-mouth with some questionable morals, he's a good pair with Wilson's Rick.

Not all of the laughs here are low-brow sex and bathroom humor (although a majority of it is). What I liked was how the passing days in the week are represented. It's not anything super-stylish, but it is very funny. Each day is introduced via a completely black screen with 'Day 1...2' shown, and the very familiar, very distinct Law and Order dun-dun! played. Day 1 has some huge laughs, Rick and Fred starting slowly -- to put it lightly -- with a big night out at where else? Applebee's of course! It's the freshly-single bachelors' adventures that provided the most laughs. We meet their friends, scene-stealing Stephen Merchant, Larry Joe Campbell, J.B. Smoove, all of them married but without a Hall Pass, they just want to witness Rick and Fred's adventures, living vicariously through them. We see "adventures" to Applebee's, golf courses with special and heavily-weeded-up brownies, lots of eating, nightclubs, gyms, and one special outing to a very tooly club with aging ladies man, Coakley, played by a hilarious, scene-stealing Richard Jenkins.  

I was surprised by some of the routes 'Pass' takes in the second half. It's not just about Rick and Fred out on the prowl. Instead, we see that Maggie and Grace might also be taking advantage of the Hall Pass too. A little darker than anticipated? Yep, you bet. I also noticed that Fischer looks freakishly tan, like alarmingly so. Just saying. Nicky Whelan is good -- and very nice to look at -- as Leigh, a barista who Rick plans to use his one-time Hall Pass on, and she certainly seems interested right back at him. Mostly though, I enjoyed watching the gents' weekly pass go to waste in all sorts of interesting fashions. Does it go anywhere near as planned? Nope, but as the week nears it's end, both "bachelors" have a chance to cheat. Very funny though, and I liked it throughout. Call it low expectations going in, but I liked it far more than I thought I would.

Hall Pass (2011): ***/****