Hall Pass is written and directed by the Farrelly brothers (There’s Something About Mary) so you expect there will be something to offend almost everyone amid the laughs.

Possible offense could be taken from the nudity (including full frontal male nudity), masturbation and public crapping, but if you buy into this fantasy, be prepared for that and more.

Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis are more or less happily married, but still eyeball the derrieries of passing ladies. Their wives (Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate respectively) give them a hall pass, which in this case means they have a week off from marriage, anything goes, no questions asked, while the wives and kids leave for a week. This is where the fantasy comes in, as stuff like this only happens in movies.

Wilson and Sudeikis embark on their week lusting for sex with any available woman, but spend most of it eating and drinking with their envious married buddies in family restuarants, where available women are scarce. Eventually these wishful studs find their way to parties, bars and available women, despite some of the worst (but often funny) pick-up lines in film. But, it turns out, it’s their wives that are getting most of the action.

Despite the rudeness and crudeness, and a large dose of plain silliness, there are some good laughs here. Richard Jenkins, who usually plays boring husbands, is amusing as their swinging buddy.

Rating: three deer out of five

Next Week on Video

The Next Three Days stars Russell Crowe as a professor turned action hero springing his wife from jail.

Alf Cryderman is a Red Deer freelance writer and old movie buff.