Flashback to 1994.
‘The Lion King’ is the year’s top grossing film. ‘Forrest Gump’ cements one actor’s future, as ‘Pulp Fiction’ resurrects another’s, launching Quentin Tarantino on the road to directorial fame in the process. ‘The Shawshank Redemption’, arguably one of the greatest movies ever, is released.
And then there is ‘Dumb and Dumber’, Bobby and Peter Farrelly’s first assault on cinema audiences.
It had to start somewhere...
It was crass, it was gross, and to many people it was very, very funny (how many does it take to gross over $247,000,000?). It may have missed with those who dispense Oscars and Palm D’Ors, but the MTV crowd lapped it up.
It also set the trend for future Farrelly brother productions like ‘Something About Mary’ (1998), ‘Me, Myself and Irene’ (2000), and ‘Shallow Hal’ (2001).
1. Never pick an ‘A’-grade actor but use faces and names that people resonate with.
2.Don’t overload the film with characters or plot, and
3. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is so gross or outrageous that it can’t be used in some way.
With ‘Hall Pass’, the brothers have stayed true to form.
The story revolves around two couples facing mid-marriage crises. Sex ain’t what it used to be, if it happens at all. The men dream of better times while deluding themselves that they still have ‘it’. The wives are aware of their partners wandering eyes, but see no need to be wary, believing that their men are basically past ‘it’, and no self-respecting woman would find them interesting. They are practically doing other women a service by keeping them off the street.
IF YOUR MARRIAGE LOOKS LIKE THIS, WORRY!
Through a series of escalating events though, some extremely funny, some cringe-worthy, the two husbands are handed “hall passes” on the advice of a psychiatrist who is a friend of the wives. They will have one week in which they can do whatever they want. Nothing is off-limits for them. Or the Farrelly’s.
The actors are typical of those used before by the brothers. Owen Wilson provides a name for the masses. Christina Applegate, Jason Sudeikis and Jenna Fischer back him up. They aren’t meant to do any more than give life to lewd one-liners or react to the shitty (you’ll find out what I mean) sight gags, and that fits snugly within their acting abilities. Toilet humour in this movie is slapped on with a trowel.
Australian Nicky Whelan plays Leigh, Rick's lust interest.
Australian actress Nicky Whelan is the lust interest for Owen’s character Rick, and you can see that there were a couple of things about her that fitted with the Farrelly casting approach.
She plays her part as well as any in this movie, but really never gets the opportunity to do more than flesh out a character.
Taking each of the seven days as an episode, we troll through just about every imaginable reference to all manner of sex acts, admittedly coming up with some very inventive titles along the way. Initially reluctant Ricky (Wilson) is soon hurling himself into life as an unmarried man, eagerly abetted by his best friend Fred (Sudeikis).
With friends like these...
Despite being urged on by a chorus of male friends who are keen to live vicariously through this social experiment, the two husbands eventually come to a typically Hollywood realisation that marriage is great, their wives are angels and the grass isn’t always greener.
There’s a twist though – what if someone else is cutting your grass while you’re out trying to sow your seeds?
With different directors this may well have formed the centrepiece of an interesting dissertation on modern morals in middle America. If it had been made in France or Italy, there would be subtleties, light and shade, deep and meaningful looks and exchanges.
But this is a Farrelly movie, everything is played for laughs and it never gets any more than (fore)skin-deep.
Tension mounts, and rides away...
There is nudity, but not the gratuitous amount you might expect, and actual sex scenes are non-existent. Surprising given the volume of verbal descriptions, but perhaps in keeping with the theme that this pair really are incapable of finding true lust.
The audience reaction to this visual gross-out and slacker obsession with sex ranged from sniggers to outright laughter, with female friends giving one another knowing looks and couples exchanging embarrassed glances.
Oh, and hang about for the early credit roll – the brothers are men, and they really can’t resist playing with it one more time.
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