Jenna Fischer (left) and Christina Applegate give their husbands a week off from wedded bliss. (©Warner Bros/courtesy Everett Co)

Owen Wilson gets single for a week (Courtesy of New Line Production,)

Owen Wilson, Jenna Fischer, Jason Sudeikis and Christina Applegate star in “Hall Pass.” (©Warner Bros)

Gifted with a one-week vacation from their marriages by their spouses, middle-aged suburbanites Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis find that scoring even with permission isn’t easy in “Hall Pass,” an occasionally funny comedy with slow stretches that has directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly returning to their trademark gross-out humor.

Thirteen years after their comedy landmark “There’s Something About Mary” introduced an unorthodox approach to hair care and four years after their misconceived remake of “The Heartbreak Kid,” the filmmaking brothers try to stretch.

This, in its essence, is a story about would-be Lotharios with beer bellies who wear sleep-apnea masks and tend to doze off at 9:15 p.m. after overindulging at Applebee’s.

Best buds and serial oglers Rick (Wilson) and Fred (Sudeikis) have been given “hall passes” by their fed-up wives Maggie and Grace (Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate).

It’s a recommendation from their pal (Joy Behar) — who knows how unlikely it is these rusty Romeos will actually take advantage of their new-found freedom.

It takes their trash-talking drinking buddies (Stephen Merchant, Larry Joe Campbell, JB Smoove) two or three days to figure out just how harmless Rick and Fred are to the opposite sex — though it will be almost instantly apparent to anyone who’s seen “The Seven Year Itch” or countless other films about middle-aged male wanderlust.

Wilson, who was playing youthful womanizers as recently as December’s awful “How Do you Know,” does not seem entirely comfortable with a role that requires him to shun the advances of his kids’ babysitter, among other eager females.

But “Saturday Night Live” star Sudeikis, in his first lead role, is perfect as the restless but utterly clueless Fred, an insurance agent described by his wife as being like “a demented cat scratching at the door.”

When their hapless attempts to pick up women — with hopeless pickup lines — fail, they receive tutoring from the biggest swinger in Providence, R.I. He is played with an orange tan and a leather vest by Oscar nominee Richard Jenkins, looking alarmingly like Freddie Kreuger.

There’s a humiliating visit to a massage parlor; an eruption of bodily fluids from a prospective paramour; the babysitter’s man-hungry aunt; and gay-panic jokes. In other words, just about what you’d expect from a 1998 movie.

The Farrellys almost go off the rails with a comic shootout/chase involving a hot barista (Nicky Whalen) that Rick has a crush on — and her insanely jealous co-worker (Derek Waters).

But then they show us that Rick and Fred’s wives, who have taken the kids to Cape Cod for the week, are tempted to take their own vacations from marriage — Maggie with a smooth-talking pal of her dad’s and Grace with a college baseball player.

She doesn’t have a large role, but Applegate is the best thing in “Hall Pass” — though veteran cinematographer Matthew Leonetti should be ashamed at how unflatteringly he has photographed her.

If you go, be sure to stick around through the closing credits. By far the funniest part of the movie is a blackly humorous fantasy sequence starring Merchant.

lou@lumenick.com