In theaters this weekend

Hall Pass: I've seen the ads for this, you've probably seen the ads for this--heck, we've all seen the ads for this. Someone is selling this one hard as the goofy breakout comedy hit of the year. What's not being sold hard--at least not that I've seen--is the involvement of the Farrelly brothers. Interesting.

I chuckle at some of the bits in the ubiquitous ads, like the guys attempting to cruise for women at Applebee's, but I have an uneasy feeling that this is one of those movies that is not nearly as funny as you think it's going to be. It has that aura of funny about it, and it has funny moments in the trailer, but it ends up disappointing you.

Part of what worries me is how unbelievable it seems. The notion of a couple of schlub husbands getting "hall passes" as temporary freedom from their marriages is of course a ridiculous one. Yet it's a funny one, so I'll go along with it. But these guys look really stupid in these ads. I mean, really stupid. The sight of them stuck among senior citizens and families with kids at an Applebee's when they were expecting hot singles is amusing, but who would get into that situation? And these guys aren't supposed to be Lloyd and Harry, right? They're supposed to be identifiable, basically likable average guys...or so I assume. If they're total idiots, then that kind of changes the whole movie.

Maybe I'm reading too much into this. Maybe this is nothing more than a silly farce of a movie with guys who are total idiots doing unrealistic things. If that's the case, then fine. I don't have trouble with that kind of flick. But it had better be really funny. I'm a little worried about "Hall Pass."

Drive Angry: Anytime you get Nicolas Cage in antic mode, you have a decent shot of producing a movie at least as funny as "Hall Pass."

Allow me to borrow the synopsis from Wikipedia because this pretty much says it all:
John Milton (Nicolas Cage) is a criminal that has broken out of Hell to kill Jonah King (Billy Burke), a cult leader that tricked Milton's daughter into joining his followers in the wake of Milton's death only to kill her and her husband and steal their daughter - Milton's granddaughter - to be sacrificed in a Satanist ritual.

Got to say, folks, even if this is total crap, it's got to be entertaining on some level, right? When I first read about this movie, I thought maybe "Hell" was a nickname for some maximum security prison. Apparently not! And that makes the movie sound all the more fun. But then again, I found "Ghost Rider" pretty dull, so...

Oh, and this one is available in 3-D if you like your Nicolas Cage even antic-er and in-your-face-ier than in standard format.