Hall Pass, released Feb. 25th, stars Owen Wilson (Wedding Crashers) and Jason Sudeikis (SNL) as two painfully suburban friends who, after being chastised for gawking at other women, are given "Hall Passes" by their psychologically savvy wives - good for one week "off" of marriage to behave however they wish. I chose this movie because I have long been a fan of Farrelly Brothers directorial comedy, and because it was filmed in my hometown of Atlanta, GA.
The strength of the movie is that the Farrelly Brothers deliver their usual buffet of quotable punchlines and outrageous shock scenes while employing the usual faces of side characters that frequent their films to emanate the "Farrelly feel" - the tone of light-hearted humor that purveys their signature.
However, the weakness when comparing Hall Pass to it's predecessors is that it lacks the cohesive chemistry that made the classic Farrelly flicks boil. Owen Wilson doesn't carry his usual cool and Jason Sudeikis' character - while more dynamic than Wilson's - still appears flat and unexplored.
Though it admittedly had me bursting out loud at a few parts, I was genuinely surprised that it beat out the family-animated Gnomeo & Juliet to rank the Farrelly Brothers numero uno at the box office for the first time since the much more deserving Me, Myself, and Irene in 2000.
Hall Pass is clearly intended for mature audiences, 25-55, all of whom, married or single, will find humor in the context, and in the sandblasted spray tans - note: the make-up artist should be exiled from tinseltown for making Jenna Fischer's (The Office) charming young facade resemble an old baseball mitt.
Stereotypes enhance the satirization of suburban life to some degree, including tennis-cloned and materialistic wealthy schmucks and the portrayal of all men as walking erections who chauvinize their every tortured thought.
Also we must throw the flag at a gratuitous male frontal scene that stereotypes endowment amongst different races - violation: tasteless and trite. Single older men are depicted as sleazeballs and married men as guppy drones - as though there's no way to grow old without dying inside.
I wouldn't say that this film carries any social significance other than that it sends a message about family loyalty and philandering that is delivered in predictable rom-com fashion. Given the homogenized suburban setting, product prostitutions by Applebee's, McDonald's, Ben & Jerry's, and Five Guys nestled snugly.
The original screenplay was written by Pete Jones, who was propelled into the industry by Project Greenlight in 2001. The Farrelly Brothers reportedly paid a handsome six-figures for the script before injecting their own serum into the plot. I would say that overall the movie made Jones look a little better and the Farrelly Brothers look a little worse. It wasn't as cheesy as Fever Pitch or as heartbreaking as The Heartbreak Kid, but it certainly doesn't match the caliber of Dumb & Dumber or There's Something About Mary.
JJ and I have engaged in this subject by joking about "window shopping" while in relationships and discussing loyalty, but mainly by reciting some of the clever metaphors from the movie. Also, we talked about the Farrelly Brothers and learned a lot about their library of works. We both agree that we'll probably watch parts of this movie again on some distant rainy day (if it streams on Netflix).
We'll recommend Hall Pass as a rental because the strengths generally outweigh the weaknesses for some cheap laughs, but don't waste $7.00 on a matinee like us. And don't expect any epiphanies or complex situational humor; it doesn't delve much deeper than the summary surface. If anything the best reason to view this film is to ogle the excruciatingly beautiful Nicky Whelan - the Aussie model and television star whose Hollywood debut is likely to poster her in dormitories across the country.
In conducting this case study, JJ and I have learned how to view movies - and all media - more critically, allowing us to better understand the material presented and it's relevance to our own lives and how it shapes our thoughts and views of the world.
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