Owen Wilson has not been very consistent in his movie roles over the past few years. I would even go as far as to say that he may be washed up. But in Hall Pass, he is teamed up with a fresher face, Saturday Night Live’s Jason Sudeikis. The duo provides strong timing together, as well as individually. While the jokes are mostly immature in nature, they work surprisingly well for the adult actors. With Sudeikis being 35 and Wilson 42, they don’t have the teenage appeal other actors have. They do just fine though.
The film focuses on two couples, Wilson and Jenna Fischer, along with Sudeikis and Christina Applegate. After years of the men oogling women, the wives give their husbands the titular hall pass, which gives a week off of marriage. But they quickly find that they’re not the ladies men they remember. Similar to the male leads, the wives have good chemistry. They show off their “rom com” chops in addition to the bathroom humor. Plus, I’m always happy to see a member of The Office in something else. Fischer’s character is a natural progression of Pam on The Office. Though it still shows that she can branch out.
Hall Pass isn’t a revolutionary comedy. It’s formulaic in nature and awkward at times. Its most redeeming quality is at the most basic level. The jokes are funny. It may not seem like much, but a lot of comedies can’t deliver. Wilson has returned to form as his usual character that falls between the straight man and the joker. A few more roles like this and he’ll be back at the height he was after Wedding Crashers in 2005. I look forward to seeing Sudeikis and Fischer work their way up the comedic ranks. They show in this effort that they can hold their own. (7.0 out of 10)
No comments:
Post a Comment