Hall Pass

Rating:*1/2

To complain that a Farrelly Brothers film is like experiencing a full-on gross-out is like stating that milk is white. The question is just how much can a film make you gag,and still hold up? On that score,‘Hall Pass’ teeters on the brink,and just about manages to stay in the rink.

Rick ( Wilson) and Fred ( Sudeikis) are much married men who are convinced that the grass is greener in other pastures. To which end,all passing females are to be made passes at,to the point where the wives ( Fischer,Applegate) are constrained to give their men a hall pass. For a week,the guys are allowed to do anything,and that includes skirt chasing and lifting and everything that happens after such strenuous exercise.

A hall pass is usually something American schoolkids get when they need to go to the bathroom. The film allows Rick and Fred to scratch their itch,but never get anywhere with it,making it an unending series of bad pick-up lines. Rick tries to get it on with a curvaceous barista from his nearby coffee joint; Fred is hit on by a middle-aged man-eater,as well as a gassy female who leaks from both ends. There’s also a just-turning-adult baby sitter with decidedly un- babyish attributes,who’s on the prowl. But these guys are shown up as losers : do all American married men on the lookout for some action on the side,even if it is sanctioned,run back to their wives? Are the Farrelly Brothers making a morality play?

The confusion spills over into the usual profusion of bodily fluids,leading to a few spotty laughs here and there. If it weren’t for those,I would say give it a total hall pass. Go only if you can handle loads of potty humour. Funnily enough,it’s one of the wives who gets a genuine romp moment,with a much younger sports jock : the married blokes are,after all,the nice guys. Aww.

shubhragupta@expressindia.com