Hall Pass.
I haven't watched the movie "Hall Pass", but i have read quite a few reviews on it. Out of the mixed bag of mostly negative reviews, one particular review that was featured on NPR caught my attention:
"There's an idea in Hall Pass that the Farrellys don't point up, but I think it's in the movie in spades: that people often depend on what Eugene O'Neill called the "life lie" - a false vision of themselves to keep despair at bay. In the Farrellys' culture, men in committed relationships need to believe it's only their spouses who prevent them from scoring all the time, and without that fantasy, something inside them would die. Hall Pass leaves you with that sad and wise view of adulthood, even if you'd never dream of putting the Farrellys and Eugene O'Neill in the same sentence."
I paused and had to think for a moment if the critic was on to something.
"There's an idea in Hall Pass that the Farrellys don't point up, but I think it's in the movie in spades: that people often depend on what Eugene O'Neill called the "life lie" - a false vision of themselves to keep despair at bay. In the Farrellys' culture, men in committed relationships need to believe it's only their spouses who prevent them from scoring all the time, and without that fantasy, something inside them would die. Hall Pass leaves you with that sad and wise view of adulthood, even if you'd never dream of putting the Farrellys and Eugene O'Neill in the same sentence."
I paused and had to think for a moment if the critic was on to something.