Commentary – Hall Pass

Now I’ve said before that I don’t love broad comedies. Don’t care for the SNL skits turned movies, Christopher Guest is talented, but I don’t flock to his films and even comedies that get a lot of attention like Super Bad, The Hang Over or countless Will Ferrell offerings, get put on my Netflix Queue and then keep getting moved down. But as a blogger, I now see things I didn’t used to when I just chose for myself; and in this case, I’m so glad for that because I would have missed out on some major hilarity!

Hall Pass is the latest from the Farrelly Bros. (There’s Something About Mary, Me Myself and Irene, Shallow Hal). Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) are two middle aged, suburban married guys whose wives Maggie (Jenna Fischer) and Grace (Christina Applegate) are, well actually, too attractive for them, but these guys are at that place in marriage when the grass looks really greener. They’re not actually looking to cheat on their wives, but their randy and juvenile actions push Maggie and Grace to grant their husband’s time off from marriage; giving them an opportunity to go do whatever they want, including sex with other women for 1 week.

What I really give the film props for is not rushing to the plot point. In other words, it’s not just funny after the guys are given the “hall pass”, it starts out with Rick’s kids delivering some dead on zingers, and the laughs just keep building from there. When they do start the clock on the first day of life without the chains of matrimony and commitment, and it’s done with the sound byte and visual from the show 24 – cutting to the guys at Applebees, which turns into everyone eating themselves into such a ribs, chicken wings, fajita, beer stupor, they have to make day 1 a wash, you know you can’t wait to see what happens on day 2.

My only fault with the movie is that Applegate and Fischer are not given the kind of comedic material the guys have to work with; their scenes allow you time to catch your breath. Although, I did appreciate the girls finding temptation, during this time off from marriage experiment meant only for the guys.

I don’t want to give anymore away, other than a warning or an enticement, depending on your point of view, of male frontal nudity, thank goodness it’s not Wilson or Sudeikis; there’s also some bathroom humor, one scene had our audience laughing so long and hard you’d have thought we were paid to carry on. And “fake chow” will undoubtedly enter the pop culture lexicon.