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When the Farrelly Brothers burst onto the scene in 1998 with "There's Something About Mary", I remember thinking that I'd just witnessed the death of the American comedy. I'm no prude; I like a good "franks 'n' beans" joke as much as the next guy. It was just clear that - for all their tacked on nods to family values - the Brothers Farrelly were more interested in cardboard characters and quick gross-outs than anything resembling depth. Truly lasting comedy is grounded in reality. Comedy of pain and humiliation is fleeting ("Borat" who?).

The Farrellys' latest, "Hall Pass", is about two men (Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis) who are given "a week off from marriage" to get any last friskiness out of their collective systems. Now, since this is a mainstream Hollywood comedy, the chances that these men will actually cheat on their wives is zero. And therefore the movie's stakes are zero. Happily, since the Brothers still have a gift for gross-out comedy, the laugh quotient is slightly higher. But only slightly. Unfortunately, the Brothers' ear for dialogue is as stiff as ever. And in a post-Apatow world of character-based comedy and witty (though occasionally overly drawn-out) dialogue, the early scenes in the film just sit there.

Those scenes setup the premise: Rick and Maggie (Mr. Wilson and Jenna Fischer) were college sweethearts, now married with three kids and settled into the kind of complacent lifestyle that begs to be taken for granted. Fred and Grace are a bit more feisty, but also appear to be standing in the way of their own happiness. The two men pal around with a motley assortment of ill-defined friends who disappear from the script - by the Brothers along with Pete Jones and Kevin Barnett - almost as soon as they show up.

It all leads to a marital spat which ends with Maggie giving Rick the titular permission slip. Rick, being an Owen Wilson character, is at a loss for what to do until Fred (Mr. Sudeikis) manages to finagle a Hall Pass of his own. And so the two embark on a week of comedy misadventures involving food comas, pot brownies, hangovers and, eventually, a mentor in the form of perennial bachelor Coakley (Richard Jenkins!). Everything except for sowing their proverbial wild oats. The conceit of the film is that these two men have been out of the game for so long that they don't know how it's played anymore.

And so, as always, the Farrellys get to have it both ways. They want the titillating premise, without any threat of reprisal. They're all swing and no follow through. And it all leads up to the same kind of schmaltzy, heart-on-the-sleeve ending that would be trite even if it were actually earned. Of course, it isn't because so little of the film rings true. There are occasional (and highly cynical) observations about relationships and married life, but those are treated as padding between penis jokes and, well, more penis jokes. And those, like the Farrellys' comedy, get old fast.