Review of Hall Pass (2011) by The D — 15 Oct 2013

(2/10).

Hall Pass is a painfully unfunny comedy directed by the Farrelly brothers and starring Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis. Basically, the plot goes like this: Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis are getting bored with their marriages and fantasize about other women all the time. This leads their wives to give them a "hall pass", which is basically where they get to have a break from their marriages for a week and sleep with whoever they want. Yep, that's the premise.

I'm usually a fan of Sudeikis, but he doesn't receive any funny material to work with. If I recall correctly, I only laughed once in this entire movie, and it was at the very last scene. Actually, I think it was the last line of the movie. This movie isn't funny at all.

One of my biggest issues with the movie is that the movie seems very misogynistic and the women characters who are in the movie are completely one-dimensional. I mean, would anybody's wife really give them a hall pass in real life? I highly doubt it, it just seems absurd. For most of the movie, the only thing on the protagonists' minds are getting lucky with a bunch of women 20 years younger than them, and their wives are OK WITH IT and everything works out in the end? I call bullshit.

All this stupidity and sexism would be forgiven if the movie was hysterical, but unfortunately it's the exact opposite. Literally all of the jokes in this movie are about penises and masturbation and it starts to get really grating after a while. Probably the only thing I do like in this movie is the chemistry between Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis. They have solid chemistry and I would like to see them pair up for another comedy because they have potential. Unfortunately, they are paired up in this terrible movie.

I give this movie a (2/10).