Movie Review: Hall Pass

Details from IMDB:

Hall Pass (2011)

  105 min  -  Comedy | Romance   -  25 February 2011 (Canada)

Ratings: 6.0/10 from 36,941 users   Metascore: 45/100
Reviews: 105 user | 210 critic | 36 from Metacritic.com

Rick and Fred, two husbands who are having difficulty in their marriages, are given a Hall Pass by their wives: for one week, they can do whatever they want.

Initial Thoughts:

This was on Fiber OP last night, my wife had seen it and I hadn’t, so we watched it. I find Stephen Merchant very funny and Owen Wilson can be good. Plus it has J.B. Smoove from Curb fame and Christina Applegate (who had gotten a lot better over the years), so I gave it a look.

Main Points:

The idea of the movie is that the two married couples are having problems and the wives decide to give their husbands (and themselves) the chance to take a week off from all martial responsibilities and commitments.

Of course for most of the week the guys screw up every attempt and it is the women who have fun and make connections with other men. Wilson plays Rick, a hard-working husband with three kids who just feels frustrated with the lack of attraction his wife has for him. While Jason Sudeikis plays Fred, a very bored guy who is also a sexually frustrated married guy who thinks he could still get all sorts of women given the chance.

There are some interesting (and I would dare to say true) behaviours revealed about men and women but that doesn’t excuse the fact that these guys are mostly pigs that just happen to have a few redeeming qualities.

Some of the best talents (Smoove and Merchant) are mostly wasted in this film. There are several genuinely funny parts though and lots of gorgeous women (and men for the ladies).  

SPOILER ALERT!

Ultimately it is only Applegate’s character who really makes use of her hall pass as Rick turns down his one opportunity and Fred doesn’t get a chance to finish with either of the women he finds (technically one finds him ).

Watch through the credits as THE funniest part for me happens at the end with Merchant’s character as he envisions what a hall pass would be like for him .

Final Thoughts:

Ultimately the movie gets mediocre for a good 45 minutes and in the end their is a strong message that cheating/open marriage is not a good idea for most people. Also the sauna scene which is funny has a rather long shot of an African-American’s schlong, not usually something I hope for in a comedy .

So I give this 7/10, there are some laughs, some OK performances and a fair bit of nudity (mostly the female type). There is also a really gross scene that I didn’t find funny and shows a disappointing trend of scatological humour showing up more often in comedies. A mild recommendation from me and of course definitely not for kids.