HALL PASS

HALL PASS (Rated R for the usual crass humor, ongoing sexual suggestion, profanity, brief graphic nudity, some drug use):  I often wonder, with the proliferation of "adult" comedies, all of which pay repugnant tribute to screwball comedy of the classic era - sophomoric, superficial, smutty movies that these are, that pass for entertainment but that can't rise above the level of snickering pre-teens - why we don't simply give that stale, overly pushed genre a number, and then refer to that number each time  another clone comes up, to save the repetitious review that would otherwise cover it generically?

This is one such "comedy," another unfunny movie that describes adolescent men and women caught up in the eternal James Thurberish battle between the sexes, with simplistic resolutions that never work, but which permit about 100-minutes or so of reworked material to prove it.

Not since "There's Something about Mary" have the Farrelly brothers been able to do more than mire in Apatow muck, to create another slight variation on the trouble with contemporary sex life.  When they resort to such visual "gags" as potty situations, the dropping of the top of a garment to reveal the obligatory bare breast, and graphically feature male body parts in close up - well, whether they assume audiences will accept it as funny or they actually enjoy creating such situations is moot; the point is, reducing such future material by a number would save a lot of time, money, and disappointment for the lot of us who don't happen to go along with a Farrelly premise.  The number 13 might, in this case, be appropriate.

Until then:  we have "Hall Pass" (the symbolic reference to high school immaturity, whether intentional or not, is appropriate).  Two boy/males (Owen Wilson & Jason Sudeikis) are given such passes by their wives, to go out and rid themselves of their obvious marital frustrations that extend far beyond faked orgasms - as if that alone might revive their family bliss.  So the guys go off on their dip into priapic desires, failing at every "hilarious" attempt.  The wives (Jenna Fischer & Christina Applegate), meanwhile, take a vacation of their own into a male-filled atmosphere with similar results.  The moral has been created in 105-minutes.

You want more?  Well, everyone tries very hard to appear to be having a great time in the anticipated promiscuous escapades, and the cast does its best to appear eagerly anticipatory in following the Farrelly directives, but let's face it, folks, we've all been there before and even a lengthy scene set in an Applebee  restaurant can't rake in excitement for anyone other than the owners of the restaurant franchise.  (Grade:  D+)