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Needs more franks 'n' beans

Kim Hollis: Hall Pass, the latest Farrelly Brothers film, opened to a modest $13.5 million. Why do you think audiences were mostly indifferent to this one?

Josh Spiegel: If I was married to Jenna Fischer, taking a week off of marriage is the last thing on my mind. Honestly, this just looked dumb. Dumb in ways that were clearly obvious to everyone in the country. I've read a few positive reviews, but in general, I don't know why this movie would be appealing. Ever.

Bruce Hall: I'm going to go with the whole "been there, seen that" factor. Another goofball Owen Wilson comedy? Another goofball Farrelly Brothers comedy? I get the feeling people were underwhelmed by the prospect. Plus, movies that seem to try to make light of infidelity seem to have difficulty finding an audience. I can't imaging anyone finding this movie appealing enough to take time out of their weekend for it when they could go watch something like Just Go With It, instead. That's right. Those were choices this weekend.

It's been a rough ride for New Line lately. Better luck next time, guys.

Max Braden: I've seen plenty of trailers for Hall Pass but until now it completely escaped me that this was from the Farrellys. It looked like something that couldn't afford to get Adam Sandler as a star, and when you have Adam Sandler as competition at the same time, that's no good.





Brett Beach: Coming so soon after a similarly themed predecessor isn't necessarily a recipe for disaster (see: Dante's Peak/Volcano and Deep Impact/Armageddon) but the cool reception accorded to The Dilemma (and that has two stars who currently at least are "hotter" than the stars of Hall Pass) was an accurate predictor of what lay in store here. Infidelity is a tricky thing to play for any kind of laughs, even gross-out ones, even if traditional values are eventually upheld. The Farrellys have become so 2000 and late, as the sage Fergie once sang.

Jim Van Nest: I'm with Max. I didn't even know it was a Farrelly Bros flick. Not to mention that it just doesn't look funny anymore. What happened to the days when the Farrellys could get A-listers in their movies? Hell, I'd settle for B-listers. As it is now, all their movies need now is Eugene Levy and they could be the next direct to DVD American Pie sequel.

Reagen Sulewski: Imagine trying to sell this to your spouse as a date movie. Set aside the awfulness of the jokes of the ads and just look at the premise. It feels like it should come with a coupon for couples counseling. Whatever edge the Farrellys had back in the 90s is clearly gone for good.

David Mumpower: As I had mentioned in Trailer Hitch a while back, I thought the early trailers looked funny. As release approached, I anxiously anticipated more funny jokes in the ads. That never happened. I also think Reagen touches on a key aspect of this. Asking your significant other to go see Hall Pass with you borders on asking them if they want to go to a key party. The only caveat I'll add here -- and only because I try to learn from my mistakes - is that if we had evaluated There's Something about Mary in 1998, we would not have been impressed by its $13.7 million debut, either. Of course, people immediately started spreading the word that it was funny. Hall Pass will not be receiving the same praise.

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