Shallow Hal (2001)

Being that I am a heavyset person myself, I was able to put that fact aside and appreciate this movie for what it really is. Truthfully, I didn't find this movie funny but I did find a strong message. This movie goes to show that size doesn't have anything to do with the person on the inside. Gwyneth Paltrow's character Rosemary goes to show how underneath all that excess flesh that there is still a person. I think "Shallow Hal" is a movie that helps demolish discrimination against heavyset people. This movie didn't only give examples of heavyset people but of people who were skinny and just not physically attractive to that of one's expectations. Hal is a very shallow character and he is an example of all those people who discriminate against heavyset men and women and people who are not attractive. Like Hal in the movie, people can change and widen their horizons for something more beautiful. "Shallow Hal" is less of a comedy and more of a motivational, moving story about life. I think this is a family friendly movie, something that kids would like as long as the situation is explained to them. Let this movie touch you on several different levels and check it out.

Okay, I sheepishly confess that I watched this DVD expecting to see some patented Farrelly brothers humor: crude, insensitive, and in-your-face. WOW, was I surprised.

This movie is definitely humorous (we laughed out loud at times) but when it's over, you come away with a heightened sense of sensitivity for those people society categorizes as "ugly", "fat" or "undesirable." And if you're not careful, you may just approach life a bit differently once you've watched this excellent movie.

Hal (portrayed wonderfully by Jack Black), and his best friend Mauricio (Jason Alexander) are a couple of obnoxious, shallow guys who make no apologies for their fixation on dating ONLY young, beautiful women. This is tough for both of them, as neither one is particularly good-looking. But, they drive on doggedly in their pursuit of women who are consistently "out of their league."

Everything changes when Hal is stuck in an elevator with a self-motivational guru, who gives Hal a "gift". In fact, Hal is hypnotized; now, he sees a person's inner beauty, not their outward physical appearance. Unattractive or obese women look like supermodels to Hal; and when he approaches them, genuinely attracted to their true beauty, they respond. After years of being unable to connect with beautiful women, suddenly Hal has an unprecedented run of success...only, the women are really not physically attractive, and this is evident to Mauricio, and everyone else...except Hal. In short order, Hal hooks up with Rosemary (Gwyneth Paltrow), who is smart, funny, caring, and to Hal, stunningly beautiful. One problem: to the rest of the world, Rosemary is a 350-pound behemoth who breaks restaurant furniture simply by sitting on it.

Rosemary and Hal fall madly in love, and it turns out that Rosemary's father is the CEO of Hal's investment company. Taken by Hal's sincerity, and his insightful ideas for improvements to the firm, Rosemary's father promotes Hal to his right-hand man. Everything is going wonderfully for Hal and Rosemary...that is, until Mauricio decides to "rescue" Hal by breaking the hypnosis. What will happen now that Hal can see the REAL Rosemary?

This is a great movie, and can even be watched and appreciated by preteen children. The sexual situations are mild, and there is little or no foul language or nudity. Gwyneth Paltrow, and especially Jack Black, give excellent acting performances. Make it a point to watch and enjoy this DVD. It just might change your life, and make you wish we could ALL see only the "inner beauty" of others. Our world today is much too preoccupied with physical appearance, and other shallow concepts that don't truly matter in the grand scheme of things.

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First published Stanford Daily, Nov 2001.

The Farrelly brothers have done it again. From the makers of such outré comedies as "There's Something About Mary" and "Me, Myself and Irene" comes "Shallow Hal," a comedy with a conscience. Known for movies that feature imperfect men lusting after gorgeous girls with a few laughs thrown in for good measure, the brothers delve a bit deeper this time, seeking to convince us that fat is fun. Jack Black (the crazy music store employee in "High Fidelity") is Hal, a shallow male (if you'll pardon the redundancy) of modest looks, besotted with breasts and waiflike figures. He prefers a girl with just one large breast to one with half a brain. Needless to say, in the true Farrelly tradition, Hal is a loser when it comes to girls.

Hal's messiah is Tony Robbins, the self-help guru who achieves the impossible and makes him see inner beauty. Ergo, Hal moves in a haze, stripping fat women of the excess padding, glossing over manly moustaches etc., to visualize them as the epitome of pulchritude. One such beneficiary of Hal's x-ray vision is Rosemary (Gwyneth Paltrow), who trades her corsets from "Shakespeare in Love" and "Emma" for a fat suit. Despite being well over 300 pounds and gluttonously devouring any source of fat within range, Hal can only see her as the nubile nymphet of his dreams. His consternation at being in a minority of one in his admiration is palpable. Eventually the blinkers fall off, courtesy his shallower pal, the meddling Mauricio (Jason Alexander). The crux of the film lies in how Hal confronts the fat in his femme fatale.

Black's virtuoso performance as Hal makes us squirm. Rosemary, with the fat suit, is ponderously poignant. She shames us with her starkly evident low self-esteem and tame acceptance of stereotypical notions of what passes off as beauty. If only her character had more flesh than fat, the full range of emotions that obese people experience could have been hung out to dry. By resorting to stilted portrayals in black and white of fat people being angelic do-gooders while ugly non-fat people (the ones in this film, barring Jill, can't be called slim), are shallow shysters, the many shades of gray in between are ignored.

Paltrow took a stroll in a New York hotel with the fat suit on, and has been quoted as saying that "...no one was making eye contact with me, or would even look in my direction. No one wanted to connect with me. It was a profound, very sad and startling experience." Some of that sadness is revealed in her portrayal of Rosemary. However, it would however, be a safer bet that UFOs would land at Stanford than to hope that Hollywood would make us laugh and cry in the same movie.

Paltrow looks as radiant as ever. Rather strangely, she reminds one of Phoebe (of "Friends" fame) when she attempts to be goofy. Jack Black has the makings of a star. His Hal is a flawed bungler who is redeemed solely by an inner core of middle-American harmlessness. Rene Kirby as Walt is a casting coup. His joie de vivre is at the heart of the movie's message. Kirby, an ex-IBM employee, was discovered by the Farrellys in a bar in Burlington, as he plodded along on all fours (owing to spina bifida). The character was specifically written for him. Jason Alexander, chubbier than ever, does not disappoint as Mauricio.

The Farrellys have been known for at least one memorable cinematic moment in their movies most notable of course, Ben Stiller's nuts and bolt coming in the way of his zipper, and Cameron Diaz's organic hair gel in "There's Something About Mary." This one has a twist in the tail. Eminently enjoyable.

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First of all, let me state this: I am myself overweight not obese, but overweight. One of my best friends is morbidly overweight. I found the film, hilarious on several occasions and so did she. I will admit, that she also found it flat for the most part. I won't say it was completely flat, but the film could have been funnier though when it was funny, I thought I would pass out.

Is it offensive to overweight people? Let's look at this in the light it is presented... Jack Black and Jason Alexander's characters are the narrators (so to speak) of the story. Neither one of these guys is in shape and that is key to the story. They are losers who are both trying to prove to the other that they are studs with the ladies, when in truth neither of them can get a date.

In a casting coup, Tony Robbins, the self help guru, sort of brainwashes Jack into only seeing women for who they are inside instead of on the outside. This is something that we should all do, but very very few of actually do. From there forward, Jack only sees women for the beauty within them. The fact that most of the beautiful women he sees are in fact physically unattractive in one way or another, is a point that is actually rather delicately handled. It is a telling point of the filmmakers that one woman that he sees as an old crone, is in reality a gorgeous woman. So what's the point of this? I think the filmmakers actually wanted to show that just because a person is beautiful on the outside, they can be ugly on the inside. Conversely, an unattractive person on the outside can be equally or moreso unattractive on the inside (this is a point that could have been brought out but was not).

Does the film pander to the idea that fat people are jolly, etc.? Yeah. Does it presume that unattractive people are more beautiful on the inside? Yeah.

Is the film politically correct? Who cares! We have all become so overly sensitive that we're a nation of big cry babies. I hope that I am evolved enough that if I countenance something that I don't like I can ignore it and move on. Who's the fool if I let something get under my skin? It's me. My folks taught me to "consider the source" when I was offended by something or someone.

So, if you think you will be offended by this film then don't watch it. No one is holding a gun to your head.

But if you do watch it and get offended then get a thicker skin I can promise you there are going to be many more offensive things in life than this film. In short grow up and get over it!

It's a funny film watch it.

Want Shallow Hal (2001) Discount?

This movie has a feel-good message, making it enjoyable enough for three stars. It says that we all deserve to be loved even if we're not physically attractive (in what it considers the "conventional" sense). But will it really change anything of what it deems mere "convention"? Will Gwyneth Paltrow go on being an advocate for the inner beauty of obese people and others "conventionally" unattractive? I kind of think not. Her performance here is significant and may display genuine talent. But most likely her future roles will reflect a sense of glamour in slimness as much as ever, meaning nothing was really changed by the movie. Similarly, will Jack Black, after his similarly impressive performance be any more inclined than before to accept an obese woman as a girlfriend? I similarly doubt that. For all its feel-good message, SHALLOW HAL builds us up for a let-down when we realize its lack of realism. Many of us will go on with our inner beauty as underappreciated as ever because of outer appearances, and will still find hard to swallow that suggestion that prevalent standards of beauty run no deeper than convention.

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