Christina Applegate: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

And 5 That Sucked...

5. Grace - Hall Pass (2011)

The Farrelly Brothers aren't known for writing complex female characters, and their 2011 misfire Hall Pass holds pretty true to form. In it, Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis play two nitwits in their late 30s, bestowed Hall Passes (a week off from marriage) by their exhausted wives. Applegate plays Sudeikis' spouse, Grace. There's nothing for Applegate to work with here, so she ratchets up the shrill theatrics to 11 as a compensatory measure. She's definitely trying harder than wet onscreen peer Jenna Fischer (The Office), but that doesn't make Grace's snippy, on-going barking any less annoying to endure. The male characters are pigs, but Grace's tirades feel oppressive. It's an A for effort but a D for execution on this one. On the plus side, the moment she collars Sudeikis for masturbating in a parked car is genuinely funny. Small mercies and all that.