Hall Pass (2011)

The Farrelly brothers haven't had the best of times in recent years. After giving us such great comedy films like Dumb and Dumber and There's Something About Mary, they've managed to mess up their careers somewhat with the ill advised remake of The Heartbreak Kid and the not as funny as you think Me Myself and Irene.

Now after a long break they return with Hall Pass a comedy about two husbands Rick and Fred (Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis) who think they can still get these beautiful chicks and are fed up with the lack of sexual activity with their wives. So their long suffering wives (Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate) decide to the take their kids away for a week and give their husbands a gift of infidelity, also know as the Hall Pass.

The film starts off  with a look at the frustrations of married life and how having kids and a full time jobs kinda of takes away the fun and excitement they had when they were dating at college. But soon after that we go into typical Farrelly territory with a typical couple of man-children we've seen in all of Farrelly brothers previous films. Fred and Rick decide to tell their friends about the Hall Pass and they decide to tag along and see what happens. Even though the week starts off with plenty of promise, the guys soon realise that the only thing that mattered in their lives are those 'evil' wives they've dedicated themselves to.

The Farrelly brothers have done well to make the two characters believable as they try to bed young females, busty mature ladies and party with old man named coakley. Some of the audience may even begin to like Fred and Rick. The problem is you don't see much of what the film promises. For most of the week the guys just sit around fast food restaurants overeating or playing rounds of golf. Its during this time that the film slows down to a complete crawl. By the time they've bagged themselves a couple of ladies, the moral of the story becomes a distant memory and somewhat of a anticlimax. Also the wives roles are underwritten which is a shame as Jenna and especially Christina are two very talented female comedians and deserve a bit more attention in this film. Stand out performance comes from Stephen Merchant who has the films funniest moment where he is daydreaming of all the trouble he could get up to with a week off from his wife.

Not up there with other Farrelly favorites. It just doesn't have as much heart as Mary or laugh out loud moments of Dumb and Dumber. But it's still a worth while watch that will appeal to teenagers and adults who enjoy a bit of toilet humour every now and then.