Hall Pass

Rick and Fred have been married for years and their home lives have settled into a rut. When the two friends start showing signs of restlessness, their wives take an unusual step: they give the men a week off from their marriages, free to do as they please with no questions asked. Rick and Fred expect this to be everything they have been missing, but the reality of single life turns out to sit awkwardly with their expectations of themselves and of the world around them. The arrangement, it emerges, runs in both directions.

Hall Pass is a 2011 American comedy directed by Bobby Farrelly and Peter Farrelly, who also wrote the screenplay with Kevin Barnett and produced with Bradley Thomas. It followed the brothers' 2007 film The Heartbreak Kid and preceded their 2012 film The Three Stooges, their ninth and tenth directing credits respectively in the order given. Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis play Rick and Fred, with Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate as their wives, and Nicky Whelan and Richard Jenkins in supporting roles. The production cost 36 million dollars and took in 83 million worldwide, a return well above its outlay.

Viewers have been lukewarm: the film holds a rating of 5.9 out of 10 on IMDb from around 136,000 votes and 5.8 out of 10 on TMDB from roughly 2,200 votes. A critics' score of 4.6 out of 10, drawn from 176 reviews, sits below both audience figures.