The Farrely Brothers, these are very odd film makers, they have such hits like There's Something About Mary, Dumb and Dumber and Me, Myself and Irene. I wasn't too thrilled with There's Something About Mary after all the hyped reviews, I was thinking that their other movies would be like that. Especially with the touchy subject of obesity in our world that usually big people are not attractive, making it into a comedy is tricky. But somehow I really loved Shallow Hal. Even though it was a bit hypocritical, it's still really funny and I think it's mainly due to the cast. Jack Black made for a great male lead going from a total jerk into someone that the audience absolutely adored in the end.

Hal, a superficial man, and his equally shallow friend Mauricio, share an interest in beautiful women, and try to act cool and hip when around them, but most women find them obnoxious and want nothing to do with them. Hal wants to see women for their inner beauty, but his fixation on physical beauty gets in the way. By a twist of fate, Hal meets the famous American life coach Tony Robbins while stuck in an elevator. Robbins, understanding Hal's situation, hypnotizes him into seeing people's inner beauty, not their external selves. Subsequently Hal meets and is smitten by Rosemary, the daughter of his boss. Rosemary appears to him as slender and beautiful due to her kind, generous nature, but is, in actuality, morbidly obese. Rosemary, who is used to being overlooked by men due to her appearance, initially interprets Hal's interest in her as mocking and insulting, but later realizes his feelings for her are genuine. Mauricio becomes worried about Hal's new taste in women, especially when he finds Hal is in a relationship with Rosemary. One night, while Hal is on a date with Rosemary, Mauricio catches him and says the trigger phrase, "Shallow Hal wants a gal," which breaks Hal's hypnosis. Now Hal has to learn on his own that the woman that he loves may not have been all that in the looks department, but is everything that he actually wants in a woman.

My main problem with Shallow Hal is it's shallow message, unfortunately Hal, if he wasn't hypnotized, would have never gone for a girl like Rosemary. Even though he learns his lesson, not every shallow man or woman is going to be hypnotized into seeing what true beauty is. But there are some really great laughs that Shallow Hal provides, it's also just a heart warming romantic comedy. It's something different and the cast really made up for what could have been a disastrous movie. I would recommend this movie to anyone who has an open mind to a different kind of comedy with some good laughs.

7/10

Don't be confused by the subject matter of this comedy, this is a very touching movie.

A Shallow man (Jack Black) is obsessed with only dating beautiful women, until he is hypnotised in to only seeing the inner beauty of people he meets. He then meets Rosemarie (Gwyneth Paltrow) and falls in love

This was Jack Blacks first lead role. After roles in 'Cable Guy' and 'Enemy Of The State' and a very good supporting role in 'High Fidelity and he is perfectly cast as the title character. Until 'School Of Rock' two years later, this was his best performance. Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow seems to be having fun, and she looks great in a thong. However for me I would have preferred to see her in the fat suit more, to highlight what everyone else was seeing.... But I suppose you don't pay millions to have Gwyneth Paltrow in a movie, and have her hide in a fat suit for the majority of the movie.

Jason Alexender is very annoying (as Blacks bitter best friend, who is annoyed at losing his wing man on nights out) and distracting with his bizarre hairline.

It's silly if course (it's a Farrelly brothers movie) but it's also very very sweet!!

When this film came to the theaters, I had zero interest in seeing it, since most of the clips I saw were just cheap 'fat jokes'--such as the scene where Ms. Paltrow jumps into the pool and practically empties it. The film looked pretty cruel and besides that I am NOT a fan of the Farrelly brothers--I hated DUMB AND DUMBER as well as KINGPIN, as the jokes seemed all too often geared towards the more ignorant teens in the world. So, when it comes to expectations for the film, it would be very difficult to find someone who was more negatively inclined towards liking the movie. In fact, the only reason I saw the film is that my uncle came for a visit and he wanted to see the film. Not wanting to be a kill-joy, I saw it and said nothing. Surprisingly, after all the initial fat jokes, the film had a lot of depth and good-natured humor and I would heartily recommend it! So why did I like it? Well, despite the crude style of the jokes, the humor was secondary and supported the deeper message. While I don't NEED a message to my humor (after all, I'm a guy that loves MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL),it often helps elevate films to greater depth and meaning. In this case, Hal is a total jerk who only looks at the superficial in women. In a bizarre turn, Tony Robbins apparently has magical powers and changes Hal so he ONLY sees beneath the surface. Now, the inner beauty or ugliness is how he perceives everyone. Now of course, it's a foregone conclusion that he will fall in love with ultra-fat Paltrow, but it's the rest of the people around him that make this an inspired film. A great example was the beautiful woman who is using Hal's disabled rich friend. Everyone saw her as very pretty, but since she was such a shallow and evil person, Hal's impression of her was priceless. However, by far the best example was the touching scene where his original way of seeing people is returned and he realizes that the beautiful children he befriended are in fact burn victims--it is a very heavy scene emotionally and didn't really seem gratuitous or cheap.

Another plus for the film was Jason Alexander. I never was a huge fan of good old George Kostanza, but in this film he is great as a sidekick for Hal. His even greater shallowness and insensitivity is great because the character has so much going wrong with him physically that he should be the last person to make these judgments! I don't want to say much more, as it would spoil your impressions, but he was perfect in this role. And, like Hal, you see some profound changes take place during the course of the film.

All in all, the film is a wonderful film. Those who hate ME, MYSELF AND IRENE, DUMB AND DUMBER, THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY, etc. don't give up on this film. The crudeness of these other films is not apparent in SHALLOW HAL and this is actually a film you can let your kids see and still be a responsible parent!!!