HALL PASS
US, 2011, 105 minutes, Colour.
Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Jenna Fischer, Christina Applegate, Nicky Whelan, Richard Jenkins, Stephen Merchant.
Directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly.
Nobody ever accused the Farrelly Brothers of using good taste in their comedies. For more than 16 years they have been making films which marketing has to apologise for or capitalise on. Words like ‘crass’, ‘gross’, even ‘disgusting’ come up – not for the films as a whole, but rather for the humour, the jokes and the visualising of bodily functions that are not normally shown on screen (or with such detail and shock value).
That being said, they belong to comic satirists who revel in showing the dark side of human nature while ultimately pitching a resolution of personal crises that is basically traditional and moral. The Farrellys are getting older, partly milder – though they are not against breakout sequences for shock and/or comic sake.
Hall Pass is an American term for a school student who is allowed out of class and can wander the corridors while everyone else is confined and living up to disciplinary expectations. As explained by a psychologist character in the film, it could be used by wives for therapy, to see what their husbands really believe and what they would really do, were they to have a hall pass, say a week away from marriage – and what they themselves would do. So, that’s the premiss. Question, what would two ordinary husbands, who are prone to some leering and ogling as well as a lot of explicitly direct talk about sexuality, actually do were they to have a hall pass.
First of all, the two husbands are played by Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis. This is probably the pleasantest Owen Wilson character on screen for some time. He does have a wandering eye at times but he is essentially a decent man, a loving and caring husband and father. Sudeikis has the crasser role and gets himself far more tangled as the week goes on. Jenna Fischer is nice as Wilson’s wife. Christina Applegate is tougher and more complex as the other wife.
There are some oddball characters in the cast, especially the men’s poker group who want to observe how the hall pass week goes – British Stephen Merchant, co-writer of The Office, has a lot of funny moments, especially for those loyal few who stay for the final credits and scenes after the credits (a reward for not joining the mass exodus which is oblivious of the credits given to people who have worked on a film for a long time).
Nikki Whelan turns up as a lively and sympathetic bartender. Fans of that talented character actor, Richard Jenkins, will do a double take when they realise he is playing that randy friend and adviser who seems to have modelled his appearance, face and tan, and hat, on Freddy Krueger.
So, is a Hall Pass an excuse for no limits on sexual behaviour for a week? Obviously, self-indulgent and exploitative spouses don’t need a hall pass for breaking out. The Farrellys, from their basically moral standpoint, send up the would-be roués, their inflated opinions of themselves, their frequent faux pas and misjudgements of how women wish to be treated, their handling of temptation, and their realisation that there is good green grass on their side of the fence.
So, quite a number of good jokes and satiric moments, some disgusting moments (which anyone with a fastidious sensibility should beware of – but fastidious sensibilities do not go to Farrelly Brothers’ films anyway), some very traditional romantic moralising. Which means that the Farrellys can have their cake and eat it as well – inviting the raucous audience in for a farcical and crass comedy, then getting them to stop and think at the end (or at least one hopes so).
1. The work of the Farrelly brothers? Their perspective on human nature? Crass humour? Conservative moral undertones?
2. Mid-America?, the city, suburbs, homes, clubs, offices? Ordinary settings for ordinary people? The musical score?
3. The Farrelly brothers’ humour, physical, bodily functions, sexuality, crass, witty? Not for fastidious audiences?
4. Their moral perspective, on marriage, commitment, adults and adolescents, the roving eye, stupid males and their stances, more astute females? The hall pass itself, psychological and moral therapy? Self-discovery, mistakes, depths? The final joke with Fred and Grace? Open-ended? The humour during the final credits, Gary, his imagining his school, his hall pass,– and the dire consequences, the murders and the burials? His nightmare?
5. The introduction to Rick and Fred? Rick as busy, with the kids, looking through the photo album, remembering his courtship and marriage, honeymoon? Maggie and her work with the children? His jokes? The outing, Rick and his leering, Maggie’s reaction and interrogation? Rick and Fred and their bar talk, looking at the women, techniques for ogling and leering? Maggie and Grace and their girl talk – and having an astute understanding of their husbands and their behaviour?
6. The home sequences, the babysitter, Rick taking her home, her flirting in the car, the offer of the drink, under twenty-one, Rick’s resistance and going home? Maggie and her pretending to be asleep? Her explaining this later to Grace? With her friend the doctor? Giving rise to the hall pass situation?
7. Grace and Maggie, jogging with the doctor, the idea, the doctor and her experience of the hall pass?
8. Grace and Harry, their arguments, Grace giving him the pass?
9. The women going on holidays, Paige and her relatives? The baseball match, the coach and his coming onto Maggie, Gerry and his flirting with Grace? The outings? Grace and Gerry and his immaturity, the sexual encounter, the aftermath for each, Grace and her reflections, the crash, in hospital? Maggie and the discussions with the coach, his visit, her asking him to leave – and Rick arriving at the phone call about Grace’s accident and his misinterpretation?
10. The range of days for the hall pass? The women calling the men’s bluff? The men’s group, playing poker, their discussions about payments for women, the baby monitor open, Maggie hearing everything, their boasting? The range of characters in the group, the audience’s observing them – male and macho attitudes?
11. The first day, going early to the diner, the family clientele, their deciding to eat, overeating, needing a rest? Going to play golf, Hoghead and his having diarrhoea, the visuals? The golf game and their ineptitude? The players and the officials chasing them? The membership and going to the bar? The group giving up on Rick and Fred? Rick and his going to the bar, the encounter with Leigh, the bar manager? Rick and his return, the discussions about the gym and fitness, his going to the spa to meet Leigh, falling asleep? The aftermath of the party? Leigh’s offer? Rick thinking of things over, resisting? The contrast with Fred, his roving eye, his being all talk, going to the Koreans, the questions about the massage, the blind going up, his being exposed? At the bar, the girl who had given up smoking, the talk, going home with her, the excremental explosion? Paige’s aunt, Fred pretending, the phone call about Grace’s accident, his being upset, the identities, the manager of the bar being the nephew, the gun? His being on top of the car, speeding to the hospital, held up by the police? Fred and his visit to Grace, her being alright? Rick going on to meet Maggie?
12. The background of suburban life, the affluent couple, their inviting the couples to visit their home? The tour? The surveillance, Rick and Fred and their chatter, everybody hearing them? Their being ousted? The later meeting between Fred and the wife?
13. The talk about Coakley his type, his appearance, the Freddie Kruger hat, the lined and tanned face, his ability with diagnoses of girls, his seeing the photo, talking about Rick’s wedding? Putting his foot in it – yet sailing through?
14. Leigh, from Australia, the manager of the bar and his hold on her, her contact with Rick, the gym, the party, her offer? The contrast with Paige’s aunt? The graffiti and the nephew on the roof, taken by the police?
15. Rick and Maggie, their discussions, their fidelity, lifelong, hope, the only ones in each other’s life? The contrast with Fred, Grace, the secrecy – and the confession?
16. The postscript to the film, Gary and his letting his imagination loose – and the final boo?
