Kish and I decided to go to a movie yesterday. The film pickings are pretty slim right now, so we chose what we knew would be a sophomoric comedy — the Farrelly Brothers’ Hall Pass.
The basic premise of Hall Pass is that men are pathetic. Two sex-obsessed suburban husbands, played by Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis, behave so crassly that their fed-up wives decide to give them a “hall pass” — a week off from marriage where they can sow their wild oats while their wives go to some vacation community. High jinks ensue. The two men talk a good game but don’t have the slightest idea how to meet or talk to women. After being goaded into action by their male friends their bumbling hook-up efforts result in wretched failure and humiliation. Eventually they link up with an old guy who is a combination Yoda and Sherlock Holmes of the pick-up bar scene; he schools them in the necessary techniques, and they start to make some progress. In the meantime, their wives, played by Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate, are themselves enjoying the hall pass week with some dalliances of their own.
This movie had some funny lines and scenes, and everything ends well, but after it was over we were struck by how truly coarse low-brow humor films have become. Hall Pass shows a fat guy taking a dump in a sand trap and includes another gross bowel-related scene. It features a double full Monty and male genitalia humor. There are a number of sex scenes that don’t leave much to the imagination. And seemingly everyone in the movie — the husbands, the wives, their friends, babysitters and their aunts, baseball players and coaches — has sex constantly on the brain. Maybe the ultimate premise of Hall Pass is that everyone is pathetic.
Webner House 