The Owen Wilson Comedy Flop Defying Odds And Killing It On Netflix
"Hall Pass" may not have been a huge success when it hit theaters in 2011, but a decade later, it's defying the odds and killing it on Netflix in 2021. The raunchy, Owen Wilson-led sex comedy is currently sitting at #9 on Netflix's Daily Top 10 movies chart.
"Hall Pass" did okay enough at the box office –- it opened at #1 on a weak February weekend and grossed $86 million worldwide against a $36 million budget, according to Box Office Mojo –- but got negative reviews from critics. It has a 33% "Rotten" rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. The Telegraph named it one of the worst films of 2011, calling it "outright hideous and also embarrassing, like a creepy uncle sporting a backwards baseball cap and cracking bad, lewd jokes for the under-thirties. At a funeral." It's also been called a movie you should never watch with your partner. All things considered, "Hall Pass" would not seem like a movie ripe for Netflix rediscovery, but it's happening.
The rediscovery might be happening due to the presence of Jason Sudeikis, who is now one of comedy's biggest stars thanks to his Emmy-winning hit series "Ted Lasso." Sudeikis has some range — "Hall Pass" is as raunchy as "Ted Lasso" is wholesome.
The movie follows Rick Mills (Owen Wilson) and Fred Searing (Jason Sudeikis), two uncool 40-year-old men in sexually frustrated marriages. In an effort to make the men happy, Rick's wife Maggie (Jenna Fischer) and Fred's wife Grace (Christina Applegate) agree to give them "hall passes." For one week only, they'll be allowed to have sex with other women without consequences ... if they can manage to not repulse every woman they meet with their terrible pickup lines.
They don't make movies like Hall Pass anymore
"Hall Pass" is directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly, the brothers behind gross-out comedy hits like "Dumb & Dumber" and "There's Something About Mary," from a script by the Farrelly brothers, Pete Jones, and Kevin Barnett.
The supporting cast includes Alexandra Daddario as Paige, the babysitter of Rick's children who has a crush on him, as well as Nicky Whelan playing a barista who has a flirtation with Rick. There's also Stephen Merchant, J.B. Smoove, and Larry Joe Campbell as Rick and Fred's buddies, who try to serve as wingmen for them in their quest to get laid (and fail miserably), and Richard Jenkins as Coakley, another friend of theirs who is a douchey pick-up artist.
"Hall Pass" isn't a forgotten classic by any stretch, but it's a diverting comedy if you're in the mood for some good old-fashioned raunchiness. Mid-budget R-rated comedies like "Hall Pass" don't really get made anymore. Hell, the Farrelly brothers don't even make movies like "Hall Pass" anymore –- they haven't made any film together since 2014's "Dumb and Dumber To," and Peter's most recent film is the controversial Best Picture winner "Green Book." So if you like filthy comedies like "Hall Pass," maybe watch it on Netflix so that the streaming service invests in new movies that feel like it.