Entertainment Editorial: Should We Give The Farrelly Brothers a Permanent Pass?

The new movie Hall Pass pretty much came and went the weekend before last opening to a disappointing 13 million (initially expected to open at about 20 million) and unlikely to do much better this last weekend. Something that struck me in the previews was that they hardly mentioned the film was directed by the once-popular Farrelly brothers and then it struck me that maybe it didn’t mention it because the Farrely’s haven’t been popular for a long time.

They first exploded onto the scene riding the Jim Carrey-as-comedy-God wave of the mid-1990’s in the landmark of stupidity Dumb and Dumber, which I—along with every 12 year old boy in the country—thought was a cinematic masterpiece. I listed it as my favorite film until I officially hit puberty and discovered a much better Jim Carrey in The Truman Show, but D&Der is still pretty funny today. Then came Kingpin which I actually think is the most underrated gross out comedy of the 90’s where it was all but abandoned. Kingpin had a great, nasty supporting performance in Bill Murray’s morally bankrupt bowler that young “comedians” like Russell Brand should check out for an example of how to make a-holes scene stealers instead of just a-holes.

Then came the biggest hit of the Farrelly Brothers career in There’s Something About Mary. Many still consider this the best comedy of the 90’s and Cameron Diaz has largely been coasting on this film’s reputation ever since. They next reteamed with Jim Carrey in the pretty good Me, Myself, and Irene but it was largely seen as a disappointment. It was all downhill from there. The Farrelly’s seemed to wrap themselves in a blanket of humanism in movies like Stuck on You which no one thought was funny but critics pointed out “had heart.” Of course, the Farrelly’s were never known for their heart so much as razor sharp, gross out cynicism so their conversion never made much sense, or box office dollars. [They hit a low point in the awful Say it Ain’t So, equally unfunny but with “heart” in that its lead character was an idiot you were supposed to relate to].They rediscovered meanness and reteamed with Ben Stiller in a remake of The Heartbreak Kid hoping to get some of that cynical black magic back but this film was almost too bitter for a mainstream audience, imploding at the box office and savaged by critics.

Now they’re back to “heart” with Hall Pass, a new movie that revolves around the premise of giving two middle aged, long married guys a week off from marriage. The movie never quite pushes its premise enough or has the characters go all the way with it. It is probably the most “realistic” movie of the Farrellys career in that it shows long domesticated married men at what they would actually be like back in the dating game (horrible at it), but at this point it looks unlikely the Farrelly brothers will ever recover some of that unrealistic, hell is breaking loose magic of their earlier film’s best moments.

What Worked in Hall Pass: The movie also has the guy’s wives enjoy a Hall Pass and get in on the fun, turning the premise on its head a little. Jason Sudekis as the best friend is the exact right actor to play a suburban sex fiend let off the leash as he looks like Woody from Toy Story gone sex offender. And Richard Jenkins shows up towards the end as the guy’s single friend and adds an immediate jolt of energy.

What Doesn’t Work: The energy Jenkins adds late in the film shows you just how much the movie needed it before. And the film is largely without dramatic tension as Owen Wilson’s central character is so domesticated you never really expect him to stray from his wife. Out of the four lead characters, it’s pretty predictable who is really going to enjoy a hall pass and who isn’t.

What I Would Have Done Differently: The movie has a nice, sleepy rhythm that works for it and is realistic to what would actually happen. However, that isn’t necessarily the funniest thing to watch, so I probably would have kicked the energy level up early on.