Married best friends Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) are on the fast track to middle-aged suburban “husbandhood.” They wear boring clothes, can rarely have sex with their wives, and they are comfortable in their careers.
While neither they or their married friends (played by Stephen Merchant, Larry Joe Campbell, and J.B. Smoove) are cheating on their wives, they are all obsessed with the sexual escapades they are not having.
But they are not the only ones discontent with their spouses. Rick’s wife Maggie (Jenna Fischer) and Fred’s wife Grace (Christina Applegate) are fed up with their husbands’ crude sex talk and teenager-like antics. After a final straw, both women give their husbands a Hall Pass: A week off from marriage where they will be allowed to do anything they want with no consequences.
At first, Rick isn’t sure, but he is persuaded by Fred, and their friends join them to “watch” them hit on and score with women. As the wives, along with the two kids (Rick and Maggie’s) spend the week at Maggie’s parents, the men embark on their adventure.
But being “single” is much harder than they remember, and their pretty wives, unbeknownst to them, already have admirers. And if the men can sleep with other people, why shouldn’t they have some fun?
Review
I quite liked Hall Pass. It was fun, and I laughed out loud during several scenes. As a romantic woman, I must say I was rooting for the men to fail and women to “succeed” with the opposite sex since they both had been so crude and insensitive about the matter. They seemed to forget their wives also had to put up with them, and not just them putting up with their wives.
Ideally, a marriage is an equal partnership where both sides exercise empathy. And despite the three “visual” jokes I didn’t care for, and the crude (yet mostly very entertaining) humor, Hall Pass does a fine job of reminding us that.
The men felt unwanted. The women felt undesired. The men wanted their wives to see sex as something enjoyable, something to look forward to, something to set more time aside for. The women wanted the men to stop gawking at other women so blatantly, to stop making everything about sex, to make them feel sexy and wanted.
So while there are several stereotypes that can make both men and women cringe, they do move the story along and take you for a fun ride. And sometimes, an R-rated relationship comedy is what you are in the mood for. Because it does contain a lot of life’s truths as well.
Spoilers
Through a chain of unfortunate events on both sides, both couples come to a mutual realization, which will hopefully make their marriage stronger. You do root for Owen Wilson’s character more than you do Jason Sudeikis’, as he is the more romantic and sensible one.
The men’s failures make for some hilarious scenes.
Favorite Scenes- Spoilers
– Golf cart chase
– Food coma, day 1
– Rick’s reunion with his wife (I’m a romantic, after all.)
– The car chase with the lunatic on top and the cops behind
Verdict
It is no Wedding Crashers, but it can show you a fun time if you let it. Also, it is currently on Netflix. You can always turn it off if you don’t enjoy it. And the crude is to be expected as it is a movie by Bobby and Peter Farrelly (There’s Something About Mary; Me, Myself and Irene; Shallow Hal, Dumb and Dumber.)
