Bobby and Peter Farrelly — better known professionally as the Farrelly Brothers — pioneered the raunchy romantic comedy. Their 1998 film “There’s Something About Mary” proved the hybrid genre could produce blockbusters that attracted both male and female viewers in droves. But their reign as the kings of comedy didn’t last long. Judd Apatow added smarter writing to the mix, making a string of hits, from “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” to “Knocked Up” to “Pineapple Express,” that had more pointed lubricity and, more importantly, greater heart.
| On screen |
| ‘Hall Pass’ |
| 2 out of 5 stars |
| Stars: Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Jenna Fischer, Christina Applegate |
| Director: Bobby and Peter Farrelly |
| Rated: R for crude and sexual humor throughout, language, some graphic nudity and drug use |
| Running time: 98 minutes |
The Farrelly Brothers’ last outing — 2007’s “The Heartbreak Kid” — was almost universally panned. So a lot is riding on their latest raunchfest, “Hall Pass.” Unfortunately, they’ve learned nothing from the example of their younger rival.
“Hall Pass” stars Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis as best buddies married to attractive women (Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate, respectively) who don’t appreciate how lucky they are. The men yearn for the glory days of their youth, when they could pick up any hot young thing at the local watering hole — at least, that’s how they remember it. Their wives are wiser. At the urging of a psychologist friend (Joy Behar), they decide to give their husbands each a “hall pass,” which allows them freedom from marriage for a week. They’re tired of watching their husbands ogle other women. As it turns out, predictably, the still-charming women find it easier to alleviate their boredom with marriage than do the paunchy, middle-aged men.
Indeed, just about everything in this film is predictable — including the obligatory toilet humor that’s a staple of Farrelly Brothers “comedy.” Viewers whose tastes have been formed by Apatow and crew, however, are no longer satisfied with such easy and uncomfortable laughs. And Apatow at least tries to infuse his laid-back pictures with some deeper meaning, though his heartwarming endings sometimes seem tacked on. The Farrellys offer us no insights into marriage that even the single among us don’t already know: Kids make it hard to be romantic; married people still need to feel wanted; women have sexual desire, too.
That said, the cast makes “Hall Pass” at least bearable. Sudeikis, a cast member of “Saturday Night Live,” will have a career to fall back on if he tires of sketch comedy. “The Office’s” Fischer gets a chance to show some range here, one minute the harried mom too tired for sex, the next a vulnerable woman realizing her life was emptier than she’d imagined. These two need to find their way to a Judd Apatow comedy, stat.
