TV & Movies
Hall Pass
You can feel your heart sink just watching the trailer. The gimmick is all laid out for you: Best buds Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) get a hall pass from their wives, Maggie (Jenna Fischer) and Grace (Christina Applegate, best in this tepid show), to screw around for a week. Since they’re idiots, there’s nothing to worry about. It’s a lame trailer, but the movie itself is much, much worse. Back in the days when Peter and Bobby Farrelly made funny movies (is 1998’s There’s Something About Mary really the last of their glory days?), the brothers might have had gross-out fun with this setup. But now everything feels forced. Nothing kills laughter faster than trying too hard.