Domesticity might be comfortable, but it hasn't done much for the comedy of Peter and Bobby Farrelly. That much is evident from the start of this tepid farce about two middle-class hubbies, Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis), who're granted a week of freedom by their long-suffering wives. Rick has to explain, "I'm only kidding," when he tells a joke. But his Maggie (Jenna Fischer) and Fred's Grace (Christina Applegate) are serious about the title leave: they're hoping it will satisfy their discontented menfolk's itch for novelty and restoke the marital flames. Unfortunately, instead of returning to their salad days in college, the boys regress to pre–junior high — which is the level of much of the film's humor. A scene in which Rick and Fred speak their minds while unwittingly on a security camera is hilarious — it's the kind of freewheeling subversiveness Hall Pass mostly lacks.
