Best known for the raunchy comedy style that made Dumb and Dumber, and There’s Something About Mary box office hits in the 1990’s, Bobby and Peter Farrelly have struggled to recapture the magic that made those films so popular. After a decade of helming mostly softer fare—Fever Pitch (2005), and The Heartbreak Kid—to lukewarm reviews and indifferent response at the box office, Hall Pass represents the brothers attempt to put the ‘raunchy back into their films.
Borrowing from the Judd Apatow playbook, with a bit of Kevin Smith thrown in for good measure, Owen Wilson and Saturday Night Live’s Jason Sudeikis play Rick and Fred, your average, everyday upper middle class suburbanites. Rick has been with Maggie (Jenna Fischer) for nearly twenty years, and they have three young children. Fred and Grace (Christina Applegate) have been together for nearly as long but are childless. Both marriages are in trouble, however, as the routine of everyday life has taken the spark out of the relationships. When Maggie and Grace lament their situation to a psychologist friend, they receive some unusual advice: give the men “hall passes”—a week during which they can forget their marriage vows and do whatever they want.
With that kind of a setup, I bet you can guess what happens next. The two guys who’ve up to now just been fantasizing about other women, are suddenly free to go looking for tail. Absolved of any blame, it’s their wives who end up looking even more ridiculous then Rick and Fred. It should be said, the casting of Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate makes this premise all the more unbelievable, because these guys end up ogling women not half as sexy as their wives.
While Hall Pass was clearly sold as a raunchy comedy, it’s a misfire. It’s surprising how little there is. The most extreme moment involves a woman who picks an inopportune moment to overcome a bout of constipation. Poorly executed, the entire gag comes across as just plain dull. Another bit has the guys eating too many pot brownies, and having some misadventures on a golf course. Goodness knows, the pot brownie gag just might be one of the most played out gags in comedy! Believe me when I tell you that there’s absolutely nothing new here.
One of the biggest disappointments is that none of the talented cast—Owen Wilson, Jenna Fischer, Jason Sudeikis, Stephen Merchant, and Christina Applegate—is particularly funny here. They all have the necessary chops, so we see brief glimpses of humor, but a dull, middling script restrains all of them from doing anything truly memorable.
The Farrelly’s have been on a downward spiral for several years now, and there’s nothing in Hall Pass that suggests they’ll regain their mojo anytime soon. Filmmakers such as Todd Phillips (The Hangover, Due Date) Greg Mattola (Superbad, Adventureland), Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up) picked up where Something About Mary left off; creating a series of films that are funny, fresh and, irreverent.
Shown in its original aspect ratio of 2.40:1, this transfer is a mixed bag. The picture looks a bit to glossy. Definition varies, bouncing back and forth between reasonably sharp and fairly soft. Colors are vivid, but often appear too intense, especially in regards to skin tones; everyone looks very tan, or badly sunburned.
The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix is concentrated in the front and center channels, as expected for a track that’s mostly about dialogue, which is reproduced with clarity. Rear channels and LFE are mostly used for the occasional nightclub and house party scene, as well as a couple of action moments.
French, Spanish and Portuguese 5.1 tracks are available for the theatrical version (the “extended cut” is English only); English SDH, French, Spanish, and Portuguese subtitles are offered as well (for both versions).
The extended cut of Hall Pass adds a mere seven minutes to the film’s runtime, and offers only six-minutes of special features, plus a DVD and Digital Copy.
- Extended Cut: The Blu-ray edition of Hall Pass features both the 105-minute theatrical version and 112-minute extended cut of the film. The differences between the two aren’t that obvious though, and appear to be largely improvesational.
- Deleted Scene (HD, 4 minutes): And not a very funny one either.
- Gag Reel (HD, 2 minutes): An outtake reel.
- BD-Live Functionality
