Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Drive” is the essence of crime cinema cool boiled down to its bones, combining the spartan feel of Jean-Pierre Melville’s “Le Samourai” with the sheen of Michael Mann’s ’80s output like “Thief.” Throw in a protagonist reminiscent of Ryan O’Neill’s strong silent wheelman in Walter Hill’s “The Driver,” and you’ve got a shiny movie buff confection.

Ryan Gosling completely owns the nameless lead role, shiny scorpion jacket and all. The year Gosling had in 2011 effectively silenced his critics who wrote him off as a pretty face in “The Notebook,” with “Drive” standing at the head of the pack. His soft exterior makes his cool-yet-vicious character in “Drive” all the more potent whenever he has to stomp some poor henchman’s head in.

I love grizzled, masculine action heroes like Liam Neeson and Lee Marvin as much as the next red-blooded American, but Gosling steps up to the plate, points to the outfield, and knocks the ball straight into the spark-spewing lights. Don’t let his soft features or feathery surname fool you. Gosling brilliantly channels the brand of cool perfected by Alain Delon in Melville’s quiet heist & hitman sagas.

Another great turn is given by Albert Brooks, normally known for playing lovable characters with low self-esteem in “Broadcast News” and “Defending Your Life.” Any trace of Brooks’s natural likability is nowhere to be found in “Drive.” He completely embodies a truly frightening gangster heavy with a penchant for fileting his enemies with a razor. In a conversation with Gosling, he says, “I used to produce movies, in the eighties. Kinda like action films, sexy stuff. One critic called them European. I thought they were shit.” This makes me wonder if Brooks’s character isn’t a homicidal take on Menahem Golan or Andy Sidaris. Maybe both?

As my co-host on the HomeVideodrome podcast pointed out this week, “Drive” was snubbed at the Oscars this year, garnering only one nomination for Achievement in Sound Editing. There were only nine nominations for Best Picture, as opposed to the ten from last year. So it would seem one of the year’s most acclaimed movies was snubbed in favor of … nothing. Ouch. But “Drive” seems like too much of a weird, arty genre outsider to get a nod from Oscar.

Thankfully, “Drive” doesn’t need the potential for gold statues to boost its cred, as it’s already gained a fanatical following from movie fans (when I stopped by Best Buy to pick it up, the racks containing it were almost empty). Excuse me, but I’ve gotta crank Kavinsky & Lovefoxxx’s “Nightcall” while I write the rest of this article.

Available on Blu-ray, DVD, and Amazon Instant

Speaking of Michael Mann, he produced a new flick that’s out this week, and his daughter, Ami Canaan Mann, took up the directing duties.  The title is ridiculous and intriguing all at once: “Texas Killing Fields.” Being a man who has a taste for Texas-fried genre fiction by guys like Joe R. Lansdale, this sounded like a yarn that could be right up my alley. I love sweaty, southwestern noir like “No Country for Old Men” and “The Killer Inside Me,” and “Texas Killing Fields” promised some solid talent, including Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chloe Grace-Moretz, and Jessica Chastain, who had the best year of any actress in 2011 (Sam Worthington’s in there too, but he ain’t really a “draw” for me). Shame what they served up was just a bland, boring mess.

“Texas Killing Fields” is about as dull as murder mysteries get, it’s characters are burdened by cliche, and the story lacks focus, and happens to be devoid of meaning to boot. A hothead small-town cop (Worthington) is paired up with an emotional detective from New York (Morgan) to solve a string of murders, and a bunch of stuff you won’t care about happens in the meantime. You know the drill, crime scenes procedurals, cliched cop dialogue, it all adds up to something you’ve seen done better a gazillion times before elsewhere.

It could only help the film if it could be called “formulaic,” because at least formula means it would at least hit the proper beats. Instead it’s a ball slow, muddy sludge, with fruitless subplots and a boring mystery. The story might not be such a drag if Mann’s direction added any flavor, but it just lies there on the screen like a dead fish. I would say it’s “television quality” direction, but doing so would be unfairly dismissive of the far more satisfying work in the genre that we see on TV every day.

It’s wildly disappointing when such a talented cast and crew cooks up a big fat nothing-burger like “Texas Killing Fields.” Even the most brilliant talents squeeze out the occasional turd, they are human after all. This is one of those movies that you might come across flipping through the NetFlix Instant Queue one night after you’ve had a few too many beers which might arouse your curiosity, but trust me, hombre, just keep flipping until you find something else.

Available on Blu-ray and DVD

Other Noteworthy Releases

Transformers – Dark of the Moon 3D: Michael Bay’s celebration of boys & their toys finally comes to 3D home video. I sort of admire Bay for making something as unapologetically vapid as this movie is, it’s pretty much a Bay’s trademarks blasted straight at your face without any hint of pretensions towards character and coherent storytelling. You can also grab the entire series in a deluxe box set, which should make for a remarkable tool if you’re into marathon S&M sessions.

Available on 3D Blu-ray

Star Trek – The Next Generation – The Next Level: I loved the Blu-ray releases that were put together of the original series, and it looks like they’re doing something similar with “The Next Generation”, offering re-created effects for high-definition. This three-episode set is a taste of what the full season sets will offer, serving three episodes that have been given the hi-def treatment: “Encounter at Farpoint,” “Sins of the Father” and “The Inner Light.” The beauty of what they did with the original series was they offered you a choice: you could watch it with the old effects, or the flashy CGI stuff, whatever floats your boat. Hear that, George Lucas? Choice. We like that. This release comes at an affordable price, but it’s a release for the impatient. If you’re gonna buy the whole shebang anyway, save your money and wait for the real deal.

Available on Blu-ray

In Time: Andrew Niccol’s stuff hasn’t ever really scratched my sci-fi itch, though “Gattaca” was pretty sweet. I love how Harlan Ellison sued the makers of this film for ripping off “Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman”, only to drop his lawsuit once he saw the film. I guess he only likes to take credit for stuff that’s good.

Available on Blu-ray, DVD, and Amazon Instant

The Thing: Back when I would gobble up any horror film I could get my hands on, curiosity would’ve been a good enough motivator to see this one. It doesn’t seem like it’s sure whether it’s a prequel or a remake, so I’ll just stick with the John Carpenter one, thanks. Also, the Christian Nyby/Howard Hawks classic is pretty swell too.

Available on Blu-ray, DVD, and Amazon Instant

The Big Year: A film starring Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson about bird watching … which bombed badly at the box office. Given that my Father is an avid birder, I’ll be watching this one with him for kicks some day soon.

Available on Blu-ray, DVD, and Amazon Instant

Dream House: Another bomb, this Jim Sheridan film starring Daniel Craig looks like a script someone dug out of M. Night Shyamalan’s garbage can. A sure sign a movie needs to make some fast cash after a bad box office draw: it’s available for rental on Amazon Instant the day it comes out, instead of making you purchase it for streaming. Not a rule, but it’s interesting how duds often come out of the gate accepting rentals there.

Available on Blu-ray, DVD, and Amazon Instant

The Double: In case you were wondering what Richard Gere is up to.

Available on Blu-ray, DVD, and Amazon Instant

Outrage – Way of the Yakuza: A new Takeshi Kitano film?!  Sign me up!  Ever since I saw him terrorize high schoolers in “Battle Royale”, I’ve been a fan.

Available on Blu-ray and DVD

The Magnificent Ambersons: Orson Welles’s half-masterpiece finally gets a stand-alone DVD release.

Available on DVD

Blubberella: I just wanted to point out that this exists. Of course, Uwe Boll is involved. Note how the titular character is firing off machine guns while gripping the clips in the cover art. Just sayin’.

Available on DVD

To Kill a Mockingbird: Man, it’s been a long time since I’ve watched this. Time to give it another look now that it’s got a Blu-ray dip coming out.

Available on Blu-ray, DVD and Amazon Instant

Adaptation: The best Charlie Kaufman creation, “Adaptation” is as brilliantly meta as it gets.  Nic Cage haters need to remember that the man is great when he’s in the right movie.  This one, “Moonstruck,” “Wild at Heart,” “Raising Arizona,” “Leaving Las Vegas”… recognize.

Available on Blu-ray

Shakespeare in Love: It’s Oscar season, so a bunch of movies that got a bunch of wins/nominations are getting Blu-ray dips. I couldn’t ever muster up the will to force myself to watch this movie. Now that it’s on Blu-ray, I’m not shocked I still don’t care.

Available on Blu-ray

The English Patient: Anthony Minghella’s middle name was “Oscar” during his career. Another one of his movies, “Cold Mountain,” also comes to Blu-ray this week.

Available on Blu-ray

The Piano: When I think of tortured female-driven dramas, I think of Jane Campion’s “The Piano” starring Holly Hunter and Harvey Keitel’s penis.

Available on Blu-ray

Frida: Being an admirer of Diego Rivera’s murals, I really enjoyed Julie Taymor’s biopic on his wife, Frida Kahlo, which covers her career, and their tempestuous relationship. Taymor’s such a visually-driven director that this Blu-ray release should look fantastic.

Available on Blu-ray

Malcolm X: He may have blocked my mouthy self on Twitter (hey, shameless plug time, follow me because you love me), but I do enjoy me some Spike Lee movies when he hits the right notes. “Malcolm X” is one of those times where he knocked it out of the park.

Available on Blu-ray

This article originally appeared over at Parcbench

Here’s a blurb for the new film, out this week on DVD: “It’s the best birding comedy of all time!” Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean much.

“The Big Year” is about three very different men all struggling to juggle their personal lives with their love for birding … or bird watching for the uninitiated. A character corrects another when he says “bird watching” at one point, but I couldn’t figure out what the difference was. All three men are setting out to have a “big year,” which means they aim to see as many different species of birds as they can in one year to become the “greatest birder of all time.”

As two men with accents say early in the film, “Only Americans can turn birding into a competition.” Owen Wilson then proceeds to flip them his own bird. I actually laughed at that one.

Brad Harris (Jack Black) is a 36-year-old man who lives with his parents and hates his job. Stu (Steve Martin) is a rich businessman who just wants to retire, but his underlings seem lost without him. And finally there is Kenny Bostick (Owen Wilson) who holds the big year record of 732 birds and now returns to defend his title. Bostick struggles to keep his marriage alive while he constantly chooses the birds over his pregnant wife.

“The Big Year” is pleasant enough. There’s not much to hate here, but there’s definitely a lot to dislike. A film with Black, Martin and Wilson should have been much, much better – and funnier. Instead of seeing the peculiarity in the concept of bird watching, the film dusts over it and never delves too much into why people love it or why others can’t understand it.

There’s a sentimental scene where Brad tries to tell his father why some … uh … grey bird … is his favorite, and we sense why he feels so much love for them. Other than that we get nothing. Stu has apparently wanted to do a big year since he was a kid, but we never know too much about why. There’s a scene where Stu and Brad have dinner, but we hear almost nothing they say save some narration by Black’s character (which should have been cut entirely. It’s lazy writing).

Brad and Stu seem to be the focus point of the film. They form a friendship and team up against Bostick. This relationship is also where the film fails and never lives up to its talented trio of stars. In fact, the film fails at just about all of its relationships. We should have gotten a sense of why Brad and Stu are drawn together. Sure. We know that Stu is looking for a father figure and ends up with a friend, and Stu admires that Brad is young and passionate, but the script needed to flesh such details out more instead of completely relying on the talents of Martin and Black.

And then there’s Bostick. Wilson really gets the short end of the stick here. His character is consumed with winning, but that thought doesn’t include the participation of his wife or unborn daughter. We also don’t get a sense of why he loves birding so much. Black’s character gets a love interest (Rashida Jones), but their courtship is given almost no screen time and then becomes too big of a plot point for the movie near the end.

“The Big Year” had a lot to work with: a talented cast, an original story, a quirky premise and a chance to dive into human interactions and relationships for the sake of our laughter and sympathy. But, the movie skips over all that and aims to tell a much simpler story. The movie should’ve gone into “Bucket List” territory, but it decides to play it safe and just show our characters having a few good laughs here and there, running around seeing birds to the soundtrack of recent hits and an occasional emotional moment that usually hits a false note.

The DVD offers no special feature except for a couple of trailers and a slightly extended version of the film.

But, alas, “The Big Year” is not a terrible film. It’s a nice enough 90-minute watch for you and a loved one or the whole family. Everyone in the cast is likable and there seem to be no negative motives for making the film. It’s well directed by David Frankel and script has no animosity or irony when it comes to its central hobby of bird watching…excuse me…birding.

The film presents itself as a nice alternative for a couple or the family to watch in place of the mindless drivel thrown out by Hollywood. “The Big Year” never rises above its own mediocrity, but it also never falls into the category of complete disaster. Let’s just hope its three leads have some much better work to offer soon, maybe even some more “birding comedies” (I got it right that time!).

Allen’s romantic comedy, which beat out “Star Wars” for the Best Picture Oscar in 1977, remains an unabashed delight in its newly minted Blu-ray format. You’ll fall in love with Miss La-dee-dah herself, Diane Keaton, and marvel how Allen could smuggle in so many laughs without sacrificing the film’s bittersweet core.

It’s that rare comedy that hasn’t aged a minute, even if we still scratch our heads over why a stunner like Annie would fall so hard for a neurotic comedian.

What’s more remarkable about re-watching the film is seeing how Allen the artist handled the political divide then … and now.

In “Annie Hall,” Allen’s Alvy Singer is a liberal stand-up comic who is seen at one point performing for an Adlai Stevenson fundraiser. It’s clear from that sequence, and from other stream-of-conscious bits, that he’s a man of the Left. Yet Alvy never rubs us the wrong way no matter how he kevetches about his inability to be truthful to his girlfriends or his unabiding hate for the Left Coast.

Contrast that demeanor to two of Allen’s more recent films, “Whatever Works” and “Midnight in Paris.”

In “Whatever Works,” Allen paints people of faith as being troglodytes who finally see the light – by embracing their inner beatnik. The film “invites us to sneer at benighted Southerners, idiot Christians, stupid kids and their hard rock music – anything, in short, that wouldn’t pass muster among the Big Apple sophisticates of whom the director is a longtime laureate,” says Kurt Loder in his excellent new film anthology “The Good, the Bad and the Godawful: 21st Century Movie Reviews.”

“Midnight in Paris” is even more alienating to anyone who doesn’t embrace the Left. Rachel McAdams plays the villain of the piece, a soulless American trying to keep her beau (Owen Wilson) from pursuing his passions rather than easy paychecks. But she’s a doll compared to her parents, a Tea Party couple depicted as utter boors. The movement itself is dubbed “crypto-fascists” by Wilson’s character.

What a shame that an older, not-so-wiser Allen feels the need to add divisive elements into his new stories. Good thing we have films like “Annie Hall” on Blu-ray to chase away those negative vibes.

And I say that because “Cars 2” opens like a James Bond film, and this is quite intentional. The story as a whole can be summed up with the word “spy-jinx,” and the opener involving Sir Michael Caine as a sleek, British super agent is pure 007 in tone, style, and the way in which it sets up a diabolical conspiracy involving Big Oil’s willingness to kill in order to strangle in the crib a promising alternative fuel.

From there we are sent back to Radiator Springs, where Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) has returned home from a successful tour of the racing circuit for some relaxation  and to hang out with his best friend Tow Mater (a superb Larry the Cable Guy). One thing leads to another, most of it due to Mater’s buffoonery, and before you know it, Mater and Lightning are touring Europe for a World Grand Prix and Mater has been mistaken for an undercover secret agent who holds the key to the Big Oil conspiracy.

The story itself is disappointing, far below Pixar’s usual imaginative and emotional standards, which is a disappointment. The emotional wallop is lacking due to a weak, predictable subplot involving the friendship between Lightning and Mater. Laziest of all is the Big Oil bad guy. You might have been able to forgive the preachier moments if there was any imagination at work.  Big Oil, really? I dislike big business almost as much as big government, but what I really dislike is lazy storytelling.

What’s important to remember, though, is that we are grading this sequel on a somewhat unfair curve. Pixar has set the bar so high it’s a miracle they’ve leapt it as many times as they have. That this one falters by comparison is a fact, but the story still holds your attention and so do the amazing visuals.

No Pixar film has ever looked so lush, and the many action scenes and overall direction are all first-rate. You also get a large helping of that marvelous Pixar world. “Cars 2″ is set in a number of gorgeous cities, and there’s great fun to be had in seeing how they remain familiar with only machines as residents  and no humans. What till you get a load of the Pope and his Pope-mobile.

Another change from its predecessor is that the lead character  is not Lightning McQueen. Mater is the star, as is Caine. Both give marvelous voice performances but are let down by the weak story and jokes that never really take off.

“Cars 2″ is worth a look, and if you have kids and hate Big Oil, it’s well worth a purchase. Either way, you don’t want to miss the brilliant “Toy Story” included with the film.

And when they leave the theater they won’t know much more about the wonderful world of birds.

‘The Big Year’ illustrates the pitfalls of being a “birder” – the sudden travel, the pricey hotel fees and the risk of alienating the ones you love. But where’s the joy, the sense that we’re watching nature’s handiwork up close and personal?

We’re left with a trio of comic actors rummaging for narrative scraps, let alone enough laugh lines to justify their respective paychecks.

‘Year’ casts Steve Martin, Owen Wilson and Jack Black as three very different men united in their love of birding. Ken Bostick (Wilson) is the reigning Big Year champion, meaning he personally spotted 732 bird species over a 12-month span. Now, he wants to break his own record, even if it means spending weeks away from his frustrated wife (the luminous Rosamund Pike).

Stu Preissler (Martin) has everything a man could want – a loving wife (Jobeth Williams), beautiful children and a thriving business. But he’s willing to set them all aside to complete his own Big Year.

And then there’s Brad Harris (Black), an IT shlub who listens to bird calls on his iPod at work. He thinks winning the Big Year competition will prove his self worth, much to the dismay of his grumpy dad (Brian Dennehy).

The three repeatedly bump into each other on their mad dash to spot as many bird species as possible, a competition ruled by the honor system. That concept itself sets ‘The Big Year’ apart from other male-bonding comedies. But there’s little about ‘Year’ that bothers to peer beyond the surface.

Director David Frankel, who had far better success with the animal-centric ‘Marley & Me,’ fails to capture the warmth and vitality of birding. And the script can’t decide if Ken is a cad or a clown, robbing the film of a potentially intriguing villain. Ken’s wife desperately wants a baby, but Ken seems more interested in migration patterns than painting the nursery. Yet Ken refuses to cheat in order to retain his title.

Wilson proves a poor choice for a role crying out for clarity. He’s in slacker mode, again, a scruffy chap you can’t stay mad at for long.

Black, in comparison, can bring an outsider’s point of view to an iconoclast like Brad, someone who thrives on the poetry of a bird in flight. But his character remains just out of focus, particularly when he’s trying to woo a fellow birder (Rashida Jones).

‘Year’ squanders not just its lead but a gaggle of ripe supporting players. Blink and you’ll miss Jones, Steven Weber, Kevin Pollack and ‘Community’s’ Joel McHale.

‘The Big Year’ lacks purpose as well as laughs. It’s far too bland to be a straight character study, and the film’s talents aren’t tapped for any comic set pieces of consequence. Couldn’t Martin have attempted one signature pratfall to break up the monotony?

Based on Mark Obmascik’s 2004 nonfiction book ‘The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession,’ this ‘Year’ ends on a note that essentially tells us birding is, well, for the birds if it means losing the ones you love.

Audiences should walk out of ‘The Big Year’ eager to scour their neighborhoods for bird species they never gave a second thought to before. Instead, they’ll likely wonder what the fuss is all about.

—-

The flaws in “Cars 2” are especially evident because the feature-length story is preceded by a short “Toy Story” film.  The short film displays the creativity and imagination that is sorely lacking in “Cars 2.” Despite the fact that the “Toy Story” crew has already been featured in three films, the new story about Ken and Barbie missing out on a Hawaiian vacation is inventive and extremely funny. The feature film that follows can’t hold a candle to it.

In “Cars 2,“ Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is challenged by European opponent Francesco Bernoulli (John Turturro) to compete in the World Grand Prix, an international racing competition. After prodding from girlfriend Sally (Bonnie Hunt), McQueen decides to bring his friend Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) along with him. Mater, who acts like he’s never been on a vacation before, quickly begins embarrassing his friend overseas. Mater also becomes mixed up in a spy plot that involves two secret agents, voiced by Emily Mortimer and Michael Caine respectively.

Caine, whose distinguished voice is a refreshing addition to the cast, does great work  but Paul Newman, who voiced Doc Hudson in the original, is missed. Also missing from this story is the sense of innocence that was captured in the original. Instead of relying on a good story, this sequel becomes a typical spy movie with a bumbling character caught up in the middle of a conspiracy. “Cars 2″  does feature an escape sequence early on that would make James Bond jealous but it’s strange to watch the animation geniuses at Pixar settle for a story that features a lot of guns and explosions.

John Lasseter, who previously worked on the first two “Toy Story” films,  directed “Cars 2” with the help of co-director Brad Lewis. The story was written by both of them and Dan Fogelman; the screenplay was written by Ben Queen. Other than Queen, the others have worked on previous Pixar films. Yet, instead of being creative or having fun with the subject as other Pixar films do, “Cars 2” runs on fumes and makes a lot of easy choices about the plot, never stepping far away from the formula or inserting a fresh sense of inventiveness into it.

Despite its flaws, it’s difficult not to appreciate the work involved in “Cars 2.” The animation, as usual for Pixar, is phenomenal and many of the foreign cities depicted in it are beautiful to behold. The characters also come alive in it. Unfortunately, the plot doesn’t support them and bogs it down. There is enough good in “Cars 2″ to recommend it (barely), especially for families who want to spend a few hours at the cineplex. It’s a well-made film that could have been much better with a stronger script.

It should be noted that Big Oil is unsurprisingly a major villain in “Cars 2.” In a movie about cars, the people who develop gasoline are an easy and obvious target and if “Cars 2” will be known as anything in the Pixar universe, it will be known for making easy and obvious decisions.

—–

Owen Wilson portrays Gil Pender, a Hollywood screenwriter on holiday in Paris with his fiancée, Inez (Rachel McAdams) and her parents.  Gil is on vacation from being a Hollywood Hack and in the process of writing his “Great American Novel;” the theme of which is being enamored of the past.  You can tell from the beginning that he is not happy with either his life or his fiancé and wishes to be part of a better generation and era.

Inez, the direct opposite of Gil, is a materialistic ambitious character who is pretty much unlikable from the beginning.  Her mother is such a bitch that you cannot help but expect the same of her.  Her father is portrayed as a right-wing “tea bagger” who is constantly getting into arguments with the liberal Gil, mostly over politics.  There is never a point in the film when you feel the slightest sympathy for anyone in Inez’s family.  You just simply know that Inez will do something during the course of the film that will allow Gil to get out of the engagement and relationship.

There is not much more I can say without giving the major plot twist away.  However, I will say that the majority of  jokes and dialogue require the viewer to have a strong background in the material.  Anything short of that will leave the viewer perplexed and completely out of touch with the plot.  In fact, when I saw the film, there were many jokes where only about five people in the audience were laughing hysterically.  The remainder of the sold-out crowd just didn’t get it.

This is where the elitism and self-indulgent nature of Woody Allen shines.  If you are not part of the inside joke and well aware of the literary and artistic references throughout, you will be lost.  And, this, unfortunately, will be what kills this film commercially.  It will play very well in intellectual centers and areas where elitism shines.  But the mass general public throughout the world will almost definitely never see it.  In fact, I was mentioning this film to a Thai friend this morning and we were both sure that it will never see the light of day there.

As is always the case in Woody Allen films, the acting is outstanding.  Although, in my opinion, Owen Wilson tries a little too hard to play the nebbish character that Woody Allen himself has portrayed in all of his movies prior to the turn of the Century.

The Paris locales shine under the cinematography of Darius Khondji.  The use of rain and earth tones gives this film the feel needed to transport the viewer to another world.  The Costume and Set Design is also outstanding.

Three stars out of five.

The Farrelly Brothers, who previously directed “There’s Something about Mary” and “Shallow Hal” (which are both highly superior to “Hall Pass”) , directed this comedy and helped write the screenplay.  Unfortunately, the writers couldn’t come up with anything better than a few lame jokes and crude humor that falls flat.

—–

Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis star as Rick and Fred, two longtime buddies who have an affinity for saying and doing offensive things in front of their wives. Although they’re married to two beautiful woman, played by Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate, the men still like to check out other women in front of their wives. Their wives are disappointed and disgusted with them so Joy Behar, who plays their friend Lucy, offers them a suggestion. She tells the women to give their husbands a week off from marriage. During that period, the men are allowed to do whatever they want and sleep with whomever they choose. Both wives begrudgingly agree and give their husbands “hall passes.”  The story then chronicles the week of freedom in the men’s lives.

If the premise isn’t cringe-worthy enough, the lame attempts at comedy should be. There is, as seems to be commonplace in comedies like this, a sequence where different characters in the story take drugs and viewers are expected to laugh at their outrageous behavior. (I wish comedy writers could come up with something better than giving characters drugs and then watching how stupid they act.) In “Hall Pass,” one of the men who takes drugs decides to go to the bathroom on a golf course. That, along with much of the comedy in this film, might be funny for twelve year old boys but few others would probably laugh watching a grown man humiliate himself.

The “Hall Pass” concept should have also been toned down to avoid having viewers think about the consequences of wives giving their husbands seven days off to have sex with as many women as they want. A toned-down storyline could have been an extremely funny concept on a sitcom like “Everybody Loves Raymond.” Instead of the husbands seeking to sleep with other women, the concept could have changed to husbands seeing if other women would be interested in dating them if they weren’t married. That concept could have produced some funny moments without having the consequences of sleeping around with other women in the back of viewers’ minds. Fischer and Applegate might be desperate in their marriages but allowing their husbands the opportunity to freely sleep around feels like a bridge too far. The concept feels like something that would only appear in movies or HBO dramas.

The Farrelly brothers have done funny gross-out films before and many of them have worked and made audiences laugh. “Hall Pass” doesn’t work at all. It has a few funny moments but most of their attempts at humor fail and audiences will likely be more disgusted than delighted during this clueless comedy.

Audiences would be well-served if they pass on “Hall Pass.”

Do you slide into silent resentment of each other? Or do you possibly give yourself and your spouse a “hall pass’ – a week off from marriage that’s designed to let you take a walk on the wild side in the hopes of making you appreciate each other again?

—–

That’s the intriguing premise of “Hall Pass,” the latest outrageous comedy from writer-directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly. The film follows the antics of Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis), good family men who are nonetheless horny and bored from years of family life.

Their wives (played by Christina Applegate and Jenna Fischer) encounter a psychiatrist (Joy Behar), who suggests the “hall pass” to save their marriages. But as the guys are cheered on by their chorus of buddies, they find that hooking up is way harder than they remember.

And as their wives head off on their own weeklong vacation, they find surprising temptations of their own.

“Hall Pass” is easily the funniest movie the Farrelly Brothers have made since their trio of classics in the 1990s: “Dumb and Dumber,” “Kingpin” and “There’s Something About Mary.” It’s a welcome return to no-holds-barred yet clever raunch after they fell off track into sentimentality with “Stuck on You” and “Fever Pitch.”

Here, they have struck comic gold with a universal dilemma and aren’t gunshy about exploring nearly every comedic angle, from outrageously funny dialogue through at least three shockingly funny setpieces that give “Mary” a run for Its money.

They also expertly walk a daringly fine line: we’re supposed to root for them to “score,” yet the moment they would actually cross the line, they would lose most of our sympathy. The inventive array of complications our guys encounter keeps things zipping along, while the ace cast makes the audience wonder what they themselves would do each step of the way.

The concept is simple but rich in characters and potential comical situations. Suspended lawyer Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) has been sent back to college because his academic degree was discovered to be phony. Now he’s stuck at the local community college—which he describes as a “school-shaped toilet.”

The show includes at least a few genuinely amusing moments per episode, but it also takes its characters seriously to some degree, which makes it more than just a string of gags. In the first episode, Winger ends up leading a Spanish-language study group even though he has little grasp of the language. The various members of the group are comically beset by a multitude of emotional, social, and functional problems.

Winger, however, very quickly (and somewhat implausibly) turns the group into what he describes as a “community.” The tables are soon turned on him, however, as he is revealed to all as a shallow, selfish, conceited moral relativist. This is not characterized as a good thing.

Taking up this theme of the need for redemption, in the first episode a professor tells Winger he has “a second chance at an honest life.” Then, demonstrating both forgiveness and kindness, the other students in the study group end up helping him study for a Spanish test because he never learned good study habits, having always been able to get by with little effort because of his intelligence.

This motif recurs in subsequent episodes as the others in the group make frequent efforts to help one another with their problems, big and small. They really become their own little community, entirely by their own choice.

The characters’ troubles are typically shown as being the results of their own bad choices, especially the search for shortcuts to happiness. For example, in Episode 3, “Introduction to Film,” Winger takes a film class because he figures it will be an easy A. In a later episode he becomes the supervisor of the student newspaper and uses his reporters to get free things for him. Both schemes turn out to be bad ideas.

Similarly, in a recent episode, “Investigative Journalism,” guest Jack Black plays a new member of the study group, Buddy, whose enthusiastic narcissism leads to some good jokes. The humor of Buddy’s character derives from his powerful desire to be seen as a distinctively interesting individual without actually accomplishing anything distinctive, let alone anything good.

In this way Buddy contrasts with the rest of the people in the group, who are actually trying to better themselves by developing whatever meager talents they possess—and thus he directs attention to that laudable desire on their part. That includes Winger, who really does try to be a good mentor to the group.

The members of the study group want to exclude Buddy, as he is extremely annoying, and Winger initially agrees. In the end, however, he decides to let Buddy stay because he sees that Buddy’s admiration for the group as a good thing, which he recognizes by mentally putting himself in Buddy’s place. In so doing, of course, he is clearly exemplifying Jesus’s Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” yet this is done with humor and without overt piousness.

Ironically, Buddy immediately ditches them for “the cool group” led by guest star Owen Wilson. Thus doing the right thing works out best for everybody.

In the most recent episode, “Physical Education,” the group tries to help plain-looking Abed get a girlfriend, only to find out that he does very well in that area already, and that looks and other superficial measures of attractiveness aren’t nearly as important as they thought.

An even more comical and bizarre story line in that same episode concerns a physical education class in which Jeff’s instructor insists that he give up his obsession with clothes and other cool-guy attitudes. This leads ultimately and inevitably to a naked billiards match between the two, and a good time and serious learning experience for all. Well, maybe not too much of the latter.

In all, Community does an excellent job of providing laughs and a little more. The jokes and occasionally sexed-up story lines will draw viewers, and the exploration of personal choices might just give them something to think about.