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Hall Pass (2011)

Director: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly

Time Out rating

Average user rating

8 reviews

Synopsis

In their first movie since 2007's underwhelming 'The Heartbreak Kid', the Farrelly Brothers are back on familiar territory with this tale of a married man whose wife permits him to have an affair.

Movie review

From Time Out London

For those poor souls who weren’t already in the know, a ‘hall pass’ is the nonsense conceit dreamed up by the Farrelly brothers that partially releases a pair of shambling, sex-mad soccer dads (Jason Sudeikis, Owen Wilson ) from the shackles of marriage, allowing them to sow their wild oats once more. Fed up with their unruly husbands’ incessant girl-ogling and foul-mouthed hypothetical sex chats, Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate let them off the marital leash for a week as a sly test to see if, given the opportunity, they would play away. And so we get the usual string of hackneyed and largely laugh-free set-ups involving vulgar chat-up lines, hash brownies and a mad, jealous guy with a crowbar, all seemingly purpose-honed to appeal to devotees of ‘The Hangover’. Of course, it descends into trite sentiment when all this laboured tom-catting makes the guys realise that, hell, they do love their wives.

As with 2007’s ‘The Heartbreak Kid’, ‘Hall Pass’ could be seen as another attempt by the Farrellys to inject some vague, sub-Woody Allen intellectual rigour into their work, attempting as it does a skewed take of the (reverse) psychology of married life. But frankly, they were cleverer when they were making films for five year olds like ‘Dumb & Dumber’ and ‘Kingpin’. The saving grace is a very amusing supporting role for Stephen Merchant as the obligatory nerdy member of this group of wannabe libertines. In fact, the most baffling thing here is that the Farrellys have chosen to keep their A-material for a hilarious post-credit sketch that posits what would happen if Merchant’s character had been given a hall pass. It’s so good, it makes you think they may have made the wrong movie.

Author: David Jenkins

Time Out London Issue 2116: 10 – 16 March, 2011

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User reviews of this film

scrumpyjack said...

Posted on Mar 21 2011 19:21 A comedy without a single laugh (though some females tittered at the site of black cock - but that's about it!) is clearly a failure. BUT it had a "ok on Fri night on bbc 1 after Norton" vibe about it ... so no out & out stinker. Though Sudeikis won't be troubling the bill boards too much in the future! 5/10

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TRUTHTELLER. said...

Posted on Mar 19 2011 09:07 Why do they keep letting Owen Wilson make movies?

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Marcia said...

Posted on Mar 15 2011 00:07 pure number 2.

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ed said...

Posted on Mar 14 2011 11:08 forgot to rate it...

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ed said...

Posted on Mar 14 2011 11:04 Anyone else notice how much Owen Wilson is beginning to look like David McCallum from the men Form Uncle with age....? Anyway, this film was so badly acted, unfunny, uninventive and tired. I went in for the Stepehn Merchant bits, but even he was crap... The post credit bits (YES) would've had made a better flick...
This is probably the last Owen Wilson film I see at teh cinema.... And who is that charmless doofus Jason Sudeikis? Where'd he spring from? Dullest comedian yet.... I'd sooner sit through 10 yrs of the Queens Speech or a Martin Lawrence film marathon.

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Mike said...

Posted on Mar 12 2011 11:31 Archgate: Brave man. Based on quality of the trailers I had visions of the audience - Inc myself - possibly wanting to self-harm about 10 mins in to this one. Not sure my choice of 'Battle: Los Angeles' was much better.

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ARCHGATE said...

Posted on Mar 12 2011 06:44 I took my own hall pass and exited after 40 minutes. The only interesting part of my time was looking at how odd Owen Wilson is becoming. The charmless oafs in this film is a turn-off. It's a bit like looking at your number twos - pointless. My advice is to just flush and go.

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Russell said...

Posted on Mar 11 2011 18:53 Without quite finding the formula of some of the Farrelly's earlier work which although dumb was genuinely funny, this film is not without charms, not least the highly pulchitrudinous Ms Whelan, Wilson peddles his usual schtick which is still holding up relatively well and the film rolls along amusingly although implausibly. Merchant however is a total scene stealer and who would have thunk it, gangly, awkward and really a little odd looking but he is hilarious, his economy of delivery and his timing stands out for all the right reasons.

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