2011 was a great year for comedies. You had Bridesmaids and Crazy, Stupid, Love., both of which finished in my Top for the year. You also had Horrible Bosses and The Hangover Part II, each of which finished just outside my Top 10. Hall Pass is the fourth great comedy for that year and a movie that will cause me to re-evaluate my list shortly. Right now, I’m uncertain whether this finishes just outside the Top 10 of 2011 or if it finishes ahead of Bridesmaids (my current #3). Wherever it falls, nothing will change the fact that it is a hilarious movie. It’s also a movie I almost did not watch because I didn’t like the concept. I like the raunchy humor movie, but the idea of two wives giving their husbands a week-long hall pass where they could do what they wanted to whoever they wanted didn’t appeal to what I valued in a movie. With that said, I’m glad I gave the movie a chance because it was also a really good movie in addition to being an absolute comic gem.
Owen Wilson (Wedding Crashers, Midnight in Paris) has never been better, and Jason Sudekis (Horrible Bosses, The Campaign) is continuing to prove that he has a long and prosperous future ahead of him as a supporting actor. Together as best friends, Rick (Wilson) and Fred (Sudekis) are a dynamic comedy duo. Sudekis is no Vince Vaughn (at least not yet), but, in my opinion, this pair was slightly less funny in this movie than Wilson and Vaughn were in Wedding Crashers. That is how awesome I thought this movie was.
Directed by Bobby and Peter Farrelly (There’s Something About Mary, Dumb and Dumber), the plot centers around Rick and Fred and their massive sex drives. Both have been married for years and do love their lives (Rick to Maggie – Jenna Fischer – NBC’s The Office, Solitary Man and Fred to Grace – Christina Applegate – Anchorman, Going The Distance), but have grown sort of bored in the routine of their lives. Neither man has sex with his wife nearly as much as he wants, and both seem tempted by just about every woman they see on the streets. The boys get themselves in a little bit of trouble with their wives. They hadn’t done anything that would cause their wives to question their fidelity, but it becomes clear to Maggie and Grace that their men have grown restless with their lives. As a result, each wife gives her husband a “hall pass.” Maggie and Grace take the kids north to Cape Cod. Rick and Fred have an entire week to do whatever they want. They are each allowed to cheat on their wives with no retribution. It’s essentially what Jade Pinket Smith gives Will Smith when she says, “He’s a man. He can do whatever he wants if he looks himself in the mirror and be okay with it.” If that’s not the world’s most extensive guilt trip, then I’m not sure what is.
So the movie revolves around two nearly 40-year-old men trying to pick up girls younger than them. Since they have been with their wives for such a long time, they have no idea what they are doing. They pick all the wrong spots, say all the wrong things, and just nothing goes right. It is hysterical seeing what they’ve planned out in their heads come entirely off the rails when they try to execute it. I didn’t go more than a couple of minutes between laughs, and, as I said above, a few scenes will have you rolling with laughter. And without giving too much away, there is more than meets the eye with this movie. I’m not going to say it goes the route of sentimentalism, but there’s more to it than The Hangover, or There’s Something About Mary. It ends up telling a nice little story. A good comparison here would be a movie like Bridesmaids or Knocked Up.
Hall Pass was a fantastic comedy that should not be missed by anyone who likes the raunchy kind of movie humor.
Plot 9/10
Character Development 8.5/10
Character Chemistry 9/10
Acting 10/10
Screenplay 8.5/10
Directing 8.5/10
Cinematography 8.5/10
Sound 8.5/10
Hook and Reel 10/10
Universal Relevance 9.5/10
90%
Movies You Might Like If You Liked This Movie
- Wedding Crashers
- The Internship
- We’re The Millers
- Sex Tape
- The 40-Year-Old Virgin