Hall Pass Movie Review

Releases: 3rd March 2011
Rating: R16 – Contains Drug use, sex scenes and offensive language
Duration: 106 minutes
Genre: Comedy
Starring: Jason Sudakis, Owen Wilson, Christina Applegate and Jenna Fischer
Director: The Farrelly Brothers

The Premise>> This buddy comedy from the Farrelly brothers stars Jason Sudakis and Owen Wilson as a couple of married guys who persuade their wives to give them the ultimate get-out-of-jail-free-card: a marriage Hall Pass. The agreement gives them free reign to behave like bachelors, free from the rules and confines of fidelity, responsibility, and married life, for one week. But soon the guys find the small town where everybody knows them – and their wives — isn’t very conducive to chasing tail. And making matters worse, it turns out to be harder than they thought to take the idea of their wives (Fischer and Applegate) taking off for vacation on a Hall Pass of their own.

The Review>> So let’s be honest, the Farrelly brothers are not known for making Oscar winning highbrow cinematic art. Instead they are known for penis jokes, poo humour and in your face sexual references. There is no innuendo here, just blatant in your face sexual comedy. 

Let me start off by saying Hall Pass is no exception. In General it follows the same rules as their previous outings such as Dumb and Dumber, There’s Something About Mary and Me, Myself and Irene.

Of course since their previous films were released there has been a move to a slightly more clever style of naughty comedy. Films like The Hangover and Due Date have lifted the bar with smart scripts and witty dialogue to go alongside the dirty jokes answer slapstick. Here however the witty dialogue is mostly missing and the rude humour is left alone without a chaperone to help guide it along. 

Yes there are still plenty of very funny jokes both orally and visually, but it is missing that x factor that links it all together seamlessly. There were plenty of times when the audience was in hysterics and might i say it is well worth staying through the credits for a little Stephen Merchant magic.

Owen Wilson and Jason Sudakis were quite okay in their roles, but it was pointed out to me by a fellow reviewer just how much Wilson seems to swallow his dialogue as though he has been studying at the Captain Kirk school of emphasizing each individual word for greater dramatic effect. (That sentence makes more sense if you apply that theory to it and pause between all words) 

The lower level supporting cast were pretty good at the small stages they were used and you get the feeling that the producers were a little scared that the likes if Merchant would upstage the leads.

Oh by the way, it cost $200,000 to get the rights to use the “Law & Order” “dunt-dunt” sound for the “Day X” title cards.

The Conclusion>> All that being said, I did laugh lots and it was a welcome reprieve from the emotional past week of national disasters and bodies being pulled from the Christchurch rubble.