Hall Pass
New Line Cinema | Release Date: February 25, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
45
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
14
Negative:
10
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
SalonAndrew O'HehirFeb 24, 2011
Compared to, say, your average Adam Sandler movie it's a master class in film comedy. Oh, you will laugh. You may not forgive yourself for it easily, but you will laugh. You may well laugh to the point of pee stains in your underthings, and if you think that's gratuitous you have no idea. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliFeb 25, 2011
Hall Pass isn't by any means flawless, but its ability to integrate extreme scatological humor with moments of genuine feeling is rare. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley MorrisFeb 24, 2011
Hall Pass is the brothers' 10th movie, and their most gangbusters since "Me, Myself & Irene." Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanFeb 24, 2011
Fans of their grossest stuff needn't fear: The Farrellys are still the guys who put the last three letters in "crass," and their potty humor was too extreme for me once or twice. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinFeb 28, 2011
It's a terrific performance-and terrifying. Owen Wilson is aging: Where goeth my own youth? Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerFeb 26, 2011
Wilson has a gawky affability here that helps redeem much that might otherwise seem tasteless (as opposed to tasteless-but-funny). Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsFeb 24, 2011
Though the film never balances the grown-up stuff with the gross-out gags, it suggests the Farrellys might be able to do mature after all. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanFeb 23, 2011
Hall Pass would like to be as dunked in reality as Judd Apatow's best comedies, but the movie is thin. The Farrellys can't quite nudge the characters from two dimensions to three. Read full review
65
NPRScott TobiasFeb 25, 2011
Still, the Farrellys have a distinct touch that carries their dubious premise across. They bring back the toilet humor of yore and make it shocking and funny again. Read full review
65
MovielineElvis MitchellFeb 24, 2011
The Comedy of Emasculation that Judd Apatow and his disciples have made into a separate economy was invented by the Farrelly brothers. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertFeb 25, 2011
The plot of the movie is meh. Read full review
63
New York PostLou LumenickFeb 25, 2011
If you go, be sure to stick around through the closing credits. By far the funniest part of the movie is a blackly humorous fantasy sequence starring Merchant. Read full review
60
EmpireJames WhiteMar 7, 2011
Not up there with the Farrelly brothers' classics, but still a worthwhile, farcical comedy. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazinePete HammondFeb 25, 2011
Wilson is nicely restrained as a loving husband caught in a middle-aged crisis, while Sudeikis makes a great foil as a guy in over his head. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfFeb 22, 2011
A largely sexless sex romp, has such a winning sense of middle-aged exhaustion to it that you might want to add a star or two, especially if you're familiar with the banalities of matrimonial bliss. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleFeb 24, 2011
Hall Pass attempts to take the Farrellys' harsh humor and bring it into harmony with what has become the modern comic style, which is to be coarse but not absurd, to be brutally honest but real. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla DargisFeb 24, 2011
Whatever the case, it's dispiriting that the draggiest, soppiest scenes in Hall Pass, as well as the most disgusting gag, involve women. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie RickeyFeb 24, 2011
Most gaspworthy is that this raunchy, transgressive comedy about would-be adulterers turns out to be a hot, wet reaffirmation of marriage. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesFeb 24, 2011
As in "Breaking Upwards," the best joke here is that the wives (Jenna Fischer, Christina Applegate) wind up getting more action during the marital recess than their hapless hubbies. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsFeb 24, 2011
It's secondhand, vaguely resigned material. And while Sudeikis has some talent, he's not yet ready to co-anchor a feature comedy. He's no Ed Helms, in other words. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyFeb 22, 2011
The slapstick and action comedy interludes are haphazardly executed at best, and matters aren't helped by the film's incredibly ugly look. Read full review
50
VarietyAndrew BarkerFeb 22, 2011
While the stabs at grown-up insight miss their targets, picture still packs more pure comedic punch than the Farrellys' last few offerings. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanFeb 25, 2011
Ever catch yourself thinking, "Man, I wish beer commercials lasted just 104 minutes longer"? The Farrelly brothers are ready to make your dreams come true. Read full review
40
SlateDana StevensFeb 24, 2011
Hall Pass is about two guys trying to recapture their youthful mojo, but it also appears to be made BY men who fit that description. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyFeb 24, 2011
After scoring big in 1998 with "Mary" - the zipper issue, the "hair gel" mix-up, the roving troubadours - their (Farrelly brothers) raw inventive edge has never been quite as sharp. Hall Pass, starring Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis, continues that creative slide into everyday crude. Read full review
40
Village VoiceNick PinkertonFeb 22, 2011
The crazy-barista melodrama-slapstick collision seems not like a nimble twist, but tone-deaf blundering-what once came naturally now seems like trying too hard, as the Farrellys face their own mid-life crisis. Read full review
38
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsFeb 25, 2011
Like the middle-aged dads in this flaccid fiasco, Hall Pass is a decade behind the curve of what's happening. Read full review
38
USA TodayClaudia PuigFeb 24, 2011
It's almost impressive when a movie can manage to be both repellently vulgar and sickeningly sweet in the span of a mere two hours. Almost. Read full review
38
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreFeb 23, 2011
A rude and seriously crude riff on taking a vacation from marriage. Read full review
30
The New YorkerDavid DenbyMar 12, 2011
The movie collapses into banality. The marriages hang together, but fear and guilt provide the glue. Perhaps the biggest insult to women here is the idea that they can't get better men than these two vacuous guys. [14 March 2011, p. 78]
30
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzFeb 23, 2011
Mean-spirited. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter TraversFeb 26, 2011
It's a lame trailer, but the movie itself is much, much worse. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenFeb 25, 2011
Wisdom lies in taking a pass on Hall Pass, but bravery demands something else, something far more instructive: Watch it, every vacuous frame, if only to measure the precise aesthetic distance from blessing to curse. Read full review
25
Washington PostAnn HornadayFeb 25, 2011
Haphazardly conceived, phlegmatically paced, lazily filmed and punctuated with gratuitous moments of sexual and scatological slapstick. Read full review
0
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesMar 3, 2011
Hall Pass has half the right idea: Scratch out "Hall," and just … pass. Read full review
0
ObserverRex ReedFeb 22, 2011
Not only disgusting and unendurable, but filthy and boring, too. Read full review
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