What You Should Have Seen #18

Hall Pass

As you might have guessed, I’m not a “professional” blogger. I don’t do this for anybody but myself. I do it because I’ve always thought of myself as a writer, but I can’t seem to find the time (horrible excuse, I know) to work on my book, something I need to devote a LOT of time to, as opposed to these small blog posts that aren’t nearly as time intensive.

The thing that seems to be driving my life right now is my relatively recent divorce. As with all things new, I seem to see reminders of my failed marriage almost everywhere I look. It’s kind of like when you buy a new car, you end up noticing all the other cars just like it on the road. I recently rewatched last season’s episode of “The Office” where (spoiler) Michael proposes to Holly. It was all I could do not to break down in tears. Had I been alone, I would have just let the tears come, but I was at work, so I had to choke them back.

Hall Pass surprised me with the emotion I felt at the end.

The previews for the movie didn’t do the film justice. It wasn’t a ground-breaking comedy by any stretch, but it was funnier than the previews led me to believe it would be. It wasn’t until the end credits rolled that I noticed it was a Farrelly Brothers joint. They tend to surprise me.

If you don’t already know, the premise of the movie is that Owen Wilson and Jason Sudekis’ wives give them a week break from their marriages. A hall pass, if you will. The wives think the guys won’t do anything and will come back at the end of the week ashamed of their urges and loving their wives more than ever. The guys just want to have sex.

I have always had a great resentment to cheating in a relationship, regardless of if it’s “approved of” by the other party or not. You made a commitment to somebody, and despite any concessions that are made by the other party, despite any excuse you might have that could justify your actions, if you cheat, you’ve betrayed your partner. You’ve shattered the commitment you made. If things are so bad that you feel you need to be with someone else, if you have to go somewhere else to get what you’re not getting at home, then steps need to be taken before you do something from where there might be no return.

So yeah, you’d think I’d be averse to this movie from the get-go. That’s the plot, AND it stars Owen Wilson? Ew. But I like Jason Sudekis and Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate. Hell, I liked everybody in it except Wilson. I just didn’t like what they were doing.

But the movie didn’t glamorize what they were doing. As far as comedies go, I thought they portrayed this in a somewhat realistic way (as much as they could and still keep it funny). As a guy in his mid-30s who is ready to get back in the dating game, I realized that those guys, they were me. I’m going to be doing that (to an extent. I guess I won’t be looking for quick hook-ups, but I’ll be back on the market attempting to meet people…and I am the KING of awkward conversations.).

Overall, I enjoyed the movie. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I thought (most of) the actions of these married guys were humorous, and the consequences were equally funny and fitting.

Y’know, this might actually be a good movie for couples to watch, especially couples who aren’t all that good at talking about their relationship. Watch it, talk about what happened, then relate it to your own circumstances and/or views on relationships. Doctor Rob has spoken!