Hall Pass shows comedic and sentimental motives

By johnnie jung · Daily Trojan

Posted February 28, 2011 at 9:19 pm in Film, Lifestyle

If you’re into lewd, rude and obnoxious comedic films with some  heartfelt scenes, Hall Pass is definitely for you.

Peter and Bobby Farrelly have created another laugh-out-loud comedy. Although not quite as hilarious as their previous films, such as There’s Something About Mary, Dumb and Dumber and The Heartbreak Kid, Hall Pass has plenty of memorable scenes and funny moments.

Wise guys · Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis play the role of two guys who get a hall pass from marriage but discover their real needs. - Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

The film’s concept is simple. Two 40-something-year-old guys (Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis) with wandering eyes and a longing for a variety of women are given “hall passes” by their wives (Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate, respectively) These passes give them one week off from marriage to do whatever they want, whenever they want and with whomever they want.

To set up seven wild days away from marriage, the story establishes the ordinary, mundane family life of Rick (Wilson) and Fred (Sudeikis). Both clearly yearn for younger, livelier women. Whenever an attractive woman walks by, Rick or Fred shamelessly stares at her cleavage, even with their wives present.

Both wives give their husbands the pass thinking that since some married men desire other women only because it is forbidden, giving their husbands a few days off from marriage will soften the desire to cheat.

Rick’s week-long tests are where the great comedy takes place. Rick is challenged when Leigh, a coffee shop girl played by Nicky Whelan, aggressively tempts him to use his hall pass by dropping her top. Instead of taking the opportunity, however, Rick remembers his deep love for his wife.

The supporting cast members bring additional perspective and humor into the story. J.B. Smoove, Larry Joe Campbell and Stephan Merchant play the clueless sidekicks giving foolish advice and cheering Rick and Fred toward their goals, yet hindering them along the way. At one point, Gary (Merchant) offers everyone marijuana brownies and later finds out that anything more than a quarter piece is too much.

The Farrelly Brothers do a good job of writing comically, even planting a Kathy Griffin joke five minutes into the movie that doesn’t pay off until the end of the film.

The film’s accompanying screenwriters, Pete Jones and Kevin Barnett clearly love channeling the teenage boys within them. After all, they created a story about two men who get a week off from marriage.

The screenwriting team also knows how to take jokes a step further than expected. Once you think a gag is about to end, there’s another payoff that extends the joke or a humorous twist to a sincere situation. In one noteworthy scene, Rick tells Maggie that, “You were my first, my last and everything in between,” to which she replies, “Is that why you were crying?”

The Farrelly Brothers mix raunchy comedy with heartfelt scenes. At its emotional core, this story is about a married man, Rick, who not only wants to feel young again, but also wants to be desired by a woman — namely, his wife. Rick eventually discovers what he actually needs is to love his wife and be loved in return.

The Farrelly Brothers create a film that provides many laughs, and they do so in a simple manner.

Comments are closed.

More News

  Daily Trojan Spring Awakening Supplement

Blogs

Daily Trojan Poll

Which headliner did you enjoy most at Springfest?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Archives

February 2011
S M T W T F S
« Jan   Mar »
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728  

Browse Archives

News

’SC computer breaks tech speed record

USC’s newest supercomputer has ranked as the fifth most powerful supercomputer in the U.S., reaching 531.6 teraflops, or floating-point calculations per second, according to USC ...

Former Dornsife professor added to FBI Wanted list

Former USC professor Walter Lee Williams was named the 500th person on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Most Wanted List on Monday. [caption id="attachment_67373" align="alignright" width="225"] ...

Roundup

The following incidents were reported in the USC Dept. of Public Safety Daily Incident Log between Monday, June 10, and Tuesday, June 11.  Crimes against a ...

Opinion

Gov’t needs clear policy to access data

As people spend more time with computers, their reliance on websites and Internet service providers grow. And yet, the government’s ability to monitor these technologies ...

Whistle-blower program needed for internships

A Federal District Court judge in Manhattan ruled last Tuesday that Fox Searchlight Pictures had violated federal law by not paying production interns on the ...

Students must continue work on USChange

Many members of the USC community voiced their concern following the May 4 incident in which the Los Angeles Police Department shut down a party ...

Sports

USC football APR scores still below national average

Last week, the NCAA announced the Academic Progress Rate multi year scores that cover the four-year period between the 2008-09 and 2011-12 academic years, and ...

USC names Ron Allice’s replacement

For 15 years, Caryl Smith Gilbert has been molding champion track and field athletes and leaders east of the Mississippi. Beginning next season, however, she ...

Nellum earns another top distinction

USC senior Bryshon Nellum, who closed out his USC career with an NCAA championship in the 400 meter last week in Oregon, was named the ...

Lifestyle

Summer recipes bound to relax and chill

With the official start of summer just around the corner and a glimpse of those long, hot L.A. days bound to overwhelm us, it’s the ...

Event celebrates LA’s Chinese culture, history

Chinatown Summer Nights has mastered the blend of L.A.’s trendiest music and marketplaces with the historic cultural neighborhood in the program’s fourth season. Alight with ...

Tech world gravitates to City of Angels

Hopping onto the tech bandwagon is no easy feat these days. The competition that goes on in Silicon Valley for bright engineers and marketing superstars ...

Photos

In Photos: Washington comes to USC

In Photos: Washington comes to USC

The Schwarzenegger Institute held an immigration reform forum titled "Washington comes to USC", with U.S Senators John McCain, Michael Bennet and former President of Mexico ...

In Photos: Armenian Genocide

Photos by Ani Kolangian [gallery link="file" ids="66554,66555,66556,66557,66558,66559,66560,66561,66562"]

In Photos: Springfest 2013

Photos by Priyanka Patel. [gallery link="file" ids="65587,65586,65585,65584,65583,65582,65581,65580,65579,65578,65577,65576"]