Filmgoers should ‘Pass’ on latest Farrelly brothers movie
I know a lot of people who don’t give much thought to who
directed a film when they decide whether or not they want to see
it. But for me, sometimes the director can be a good indicator of
whether or not I will like a film. There are some directors who mix
it up and some directors who stick with the types of films that are
tried and true for them
– think James Cameron and overblown, expensive blockbusters.
Filmgoers should ‘Pass’ on latest Farrelly brothers movie
I know a lot of people who don’t give much thought to who directed a film when they decide whether or not they want to see it. But for me, sometimes the director can be a good indicator of whether or not I will like a film. There are some directors who mix it up and some directors who stick with the types of films that are tried and true for them – think James Cameron and overblown, expensive blockbusters.
The Farrelly brothers, Bobby and Peter, are a pair of directors who stick very closely to the tried and true. These two were the masterminds between “There’s Something About Mary,” “Dumb and Dumber” and “Shallow Hal.” I didn’t find any of those movies all that funny. In fact, I’ve only enjoyed one Farrelly brothers’ movie and that was “Stuck On You,” probably because Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear brought up the standards on screen.
Had I known that “Hall Pass” was directed, and written in part, by Bobby and Peter Farrelly, I probably would have skipped it and maybe caught it a year from now on DVD or instant play. But I didn’t really pay attention to who was behind the movie. The previews showed Owen Wilson, Christina Applegate and Jenna Fischer (Pam from “The Office,”) all sounding very funny.
Unfortunately this is one of those films where the only funny things in the movie were the bits in the previews. Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) are married men – though how happily married is in question pretty early on in the movie. Rick and Maggie (Jenna Fischer) have been together since college and they have three young children. Maggie is a stay-at-home mom while Rick is a real-estate agent. The drama starts when Maggie catches Rick obviously checking out other women twice in one night.
His friend Fred (Sudeikis), who is married to Grace (Christina Applegate,) gives him some advice about how to be more subtle so his wife doesn’t catch him when he is looking at other women.
When the women talk with their friend Dr. Lucy (Joy Behar) about their husband’s straying eyes, she tells them that she and her husband have a deal called a hall pass. It is basically a week off from marriage, where the men can do whatever they want – drink, party, hook up with other women. Grace and Maggie think it is a horrible idea.
But when Maggie accidentally overhears Rick joking around with his friends about what they would pay to have a night with a swimsuit model without their wives finding out, she decides it is worth a shot. She packs up the kids and heads to her parents’ vacation home for a week.
Rick is upset about it at first, until Fred finagles his way into a hall pass, too. The two plan to head out together to conquer the singles scene, and all their married friends follow along behind them to watch. During their first night of freedom, the men end up at Applebee’s, not really a place with a big singles scene. Instead of going after women, they tackle big steaks and then call it a night. The second day, they go golfing and have a mishap with marijuana-laced brownies. The third day, they drink so much they pass out at a bar and then are hung over for the entire next day.
Rick is ambivalent about his chance to score with another woman, but Fred is overly enthusiastic about it, even though the women he is going after are not as beautiful as his wife. The only woman that Rick finds slightly interesting is a blond bombshell who works at a nearby coffee shop. Leigh (Nicky Whelan) is from Australia, is tanned to perfection and actually pays some attention to Rick.
While the men are out looking for women, they don’t really seem aware that a hall pass means that their wives also have a week off from marriage. In Cape Cod, Maggie’s parents take the kids off her hands so that she and Grace can have some fun. At a baseball game, the women get invited to hang out with the players, a bunch of college kids who are in town for a tournament. Grace spends her days flirting with Gerry (Tyler Hoechlin.) Maggie, meanwhile, has something of a connection with the team’s coach, Rick (Bruce Thomas.) All the characters have to do some soul searching about what the purpose of the week off is and what they really want when they return to their marriage. But that is undermined by all the raunchy jokes, mostly prompted by Sudeikis, that fill up the running time.
Though I didn’t like the movie, I learned one thing – if Jason Sudeikis is in a film, I probably will not like it. Although I really liked his turn as Floyd on “30 Rock,” some of the movies he’s in have been my least favorite. This is certainly a movie to skip except for the Farrelly brothers most diehard fans.
Melissa Flores can be reached at mf*****@pi**********.com. Read about the Cinequest Film Festival, coming up in downtown San Jose at her blog, http://melissa-movielines.blogspot.com.
