Hall Pass debuted this weekend and it is the latest flick from the Farrelly brother - the duo who brought us There's Something About Mary and Dumb and Dumber. Their latest flick is just that - dumb and dumber.
The Plot: Two men, Rick (Wilson) and Fred (Sudeikis) have been married for years, but can't help their wandering eye. Their wives, played by Jenna Fisher and Christina Applegate, notice their "extra-curricular activities' and are fed up with their antics. They give them a hall pass for the week, which basically means they get a week off from their marriages and are able to do whatever they want.
The wives head out of town to Cape Cod and the men believe they are going to get crazy for the week, hitting on and sleeping with as many women they can during their week off. They encounter many adventured, but each one seems to go wrong in one way or another. You'd think with these two comedians, the adventures-gone-wrong plot, would be hilarious. Unfortunately, the crude-jokes and foul language is too much and gets in the way of any potential humor. We wind up with a depressingly unfunny and pathetically creepy film.
What's Bad:
Jason Sudeikis in general. Sudeikis makes Fred a particularly awful person who acts like an obnoxious fool, objectifying women at every turn and trying to corrupt the more moral Rick. He has no saving grace whatsoever in this film and you kind of hope his wife Grace, whom he has no respect for and it almost seems like he can't stand her, will go off and cheat herself. Fred is completely creepy and it seems the Farrelly brothers are trying to somehow make that endearing and likable, but it's a huge turnoff.
The film is generally sexist the entire way through. The two men seem to think women are tools to pleasure them and give them what they want. They are constantly seeking sex, whether in their marriage or outside of it. There is one particularly sexist scene where Fred is explaining why the guys shouldn't feel bad about their hall pass. He asserts women live their dreams, but guys don't - women's dreams are playing house and having children and men give them that. Whereas a man's dream is never fulfilled.
What's Good:
There's isn't much that's actually good with this movie, the only saving grace is Wilson who plays his usual lovable self. Even when he is forced to deliver crude lines and awful jokes, he seems to do it with a little bit of good-natured charm.
I actually found myself relieved when the scenes with the wives in Cape Cod came on. Fisher and Applegate were much more entertaining and likable in the film. The two have their own out-of-marriage experience, but it doesn't have the same nasty crudeness as the men.
Not only does the movie lack humor, it also lacks any kind of heart or scenes anyone can relate to. It mocks the idea of marriage and although the end offers some kind of resolution, you don't get the sense anything has changed. I was completely disappointed in what this film actually delivered. It had so much potential, but the reality was such a let down.