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Once upon a time, the Farrelly brothers made predictable rom-coms more outrageous by adding lots of shock humor: sex talk, nudity (including stuff you never wanted to see) and gross-out bodily fluids, plus the occasional foray into the politically incorrect. But now, after a decade of R-rated sex comedies, these outings are just as tired and predictable as the genre they once reinvigorated. Exhibit A is the Farrelly’s latest, a tepid comedy about two married couples who take a no-strings-attached break from the perceived tedium of their hitched lives. The wives (Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate) are weary and bossy because they have to be — they’re married to good-hearted but helpless, scared little boys (Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis). Most of the gags focus on the two guys trying to get lucky during their week off — essentially a string of humiliating episodes exposing them for the nutless (but good-hearted) wonders they are. (These films are aimed at men, who instead of laughing uproariously at their on-screen counterparts, should demand better vicarious adventures.) And despite the bare asses, horny cougars, bowel problems and free-lovin’ Australian hotties, Hall Pass is really all about staying faithfully married. Not exactly genre-busting or transgressive.
This article appears in Mar 3-9, 2011.
