Review of Hall Pass (2011) by Porruthai M — 10 Jan 2012

Fred: Have you ever tried the Australian kiss? It's like the French kiss except it's Down Under. .

"One week. No rules.".

The Farrelly brothers have been a staple of the comedy genre for awhile now. Not because of their recent work, but because of their classics, like There's Something About Mary, Dumb and Dumber, and Kingpin. While, I moderately liked Hall Pass; it is not a return to form for them. Sure it has some of their signature gross out touches, raunchy dialogue, shit, and jerking off; it still doesn't make it to the level of their early work. Even die hard fans of the Farrelly's(I'm sure they exist) will confess to this. But of all of their movies I have seen from the 21st century, this is my favorite. Yeah I know, that's not saying much. .

Hall Pass revolves around the absurd notion that two wives have given their husbands a one week hall pass from marriage. In this week they can do whatever they want to whomever they want. They believe what they want is to bang as many girls as possible, but is it really? They seem more obsessed with wings, ice cream, and beer, than with pussy; even though that's all they talk about.

The whole movie is extremely predictable. You know what's going to end up happening, and what's going to end up not happening. The Farrelly's didn't go out of their way to present this in a new way, but decided to use the plot to tell a by the numbers marital tale. Along the way they are able to make me laugh just enough, and that's what really matters. Wilson and Sudeikis are somewhat funny in their roles. While not being as hilarious as it could have been, it still manages to be a decent comedy.

There's scenes here that will appeal to some(mostly gross out fans) and that will totally appall others(everybody else). This had a good balance of scenes that kind of grossed me out too much(the shit scene), and the ones that made me laugh, even though they were wrong(the faux chow scene). Overall, the movie is average, but that's better than what the Farrelly's have been doing, so I'll give it a recommendation to the Farrelly lovers out there. Hopefully soon they will reach what they are capable of once more. Wouldn't it be cool if they were able to do it with The Three Stooges?