Culture

Directed by Bobby and Peter Farrelly. (3.5/5).
Every male in a relationship, everywhere, thinks exactly like the characters of this new movie from the Farrelly Brothers. If given the same chance as the guys in Hall Pass, most men would probably end up doing exactly the same thing. The basic principle is fairly simple; a couple of women get fed up with their husbands’ childish antics and, on the advice of their psychiatrist friend, give their husbands the “week off” from being married. They give them the licence to drink, party and cheat; whatever they want. Slightly predictable, but very funny antics follow.
 

With Owen Wilson, Extra’s awkward turtle Stephan Merchant and the awesome Christina Applegate, there is more than enough talent to drive the movie. However, Saturday Night Live’s Jason Sudeikis is really the laugh factory in the movie. His awkward, very misguided action and pulling advice are what make the movie as funny as it is. Once you find out what “half chow” is you’ll know what I’m talking about. You’ll wish you didn’t though. Gross, wrong and very weird it may be, but the males in the audience were definitely laughing.
 

This isn’t a movie that you should go into hoping to get too many deep messages from and in that sense it pretty much fulfils its quota. In fact, the movie has been almost universally ripped out by critics. You can see why; it’s quite predictable, a little degrading to women and uses potty humour to generate most of the laughs. But overall, I thought they were a bit tough. The movie is light, laugh-out-loud funny, and a touch graphic. I enjoyed it. Take the girlfriend or boyfriend, have a laugh, go home and think if you could do better with a week off.