Josef Krebs

A brown leaf floats on brilliantly clear water that flows over rich green seaweed. That’s just one of the many lyrical images that fill the opening sequence of Solaris. A horse trots along in the background. A cup of tea overflows in a momentary thunderstorm — the rain stopping as quickly as it started, leaving the sound of dripping water and then a serene silence.

The starting point of Hall Pass, the latest comedy from writer/directors Bobby and Peter Farrelly, is the same as that of most current TV sitcoms: Gone-to-pot, sex-mad, middle-aged suburban American husbands — who’ve been infantilized by their disappointed, slightly contemptuous, much more attractive wives — yearn for freedom (and more sex) via younger, even hotter women.

You don’t watch Fast Times at Ridgemont High for any home theater glories. More likely, it’s a favorite movie to get stoned to — er, a series of memorable vignettes of high-school teenagers attempting to lose their virginity while surviving soul-destroying service-industry jobs.