Customer Reviews

Shallow Hal (Widescreen)

5 star:		(57)
4 star:		(54)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

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.

What I learned after watching this movie is that if someone who is extremely shallow and only pursues hotties suddenly becomes successful with hotties, he/she will one day instantly lose his/her shallowness. Why did I learn this instead of what the Farrley brothers set out to teach us? Simple: the stupid spell that Hal (Jack Black) was put under was garbage! In the beginning, he pursues hotties who reject him (who are hotties in reality, at least according to standards of society). After the spell, guess what? Surprise surprise.......he still pursues hotties (only this time, he's the only one who sees knock-outs; everyone else sees....well....what society has deemed less than knock-outs). He is still only interested in scoring with supermodels, and what really bothered me was the conversation Hal had with Mauricio (Jason Alexander) after he removed Hal's spell, and Hal could no longer locate the hottie he once saw sitting at the restaurant, known as Rosemary (Gwyneth Paltrow). Hal goes balistic on Mauricio, because "I had a beautiful, intelligent, funny, (blah blah blah) woman, and YOU MADE HER DISAPEAR," proving without a doubt that he still is shallow after the spell! All of her good qualities dissapear, only because her looks aren't a 10, and we are supposed to believe that Hal is turning over a new leaf? What sucks more is that, for no logical reason, the first time Hal looks at Rosemary (for real as an obese woman, and knows that it is her), he can instantly not only accept her, but want her. THIS ISN'T REALISTIC, PEOPLE!!! People who are shallow their whole life and don't look past the surface of people can't, in the blink of an eye, desire someone who physically, most people would consider a reject (wouldn't that be nice!). Basically, this movie wants us to believe that there's an on/off switch in our brain that can be flipped at-will to make us attracted to people we've never been attracted to before, which is completely untrue. This is why the transformation this movie tries to show us via Hal lacks logical soundness, and why this movie fails to teach us anything. While I did not find this movie offensive (it was actually quite funny at times, thanks to our three leads), I did finish the movie questioning how deep shallow Hal had managed to become.

Jack Black and Jason Alexander are masters of the art of comedy. We all know Alexander from the show "Seinfeld" (I think he and Cramner are much funnier than Seinfeld himself), and Jack Black is in the band Tennacious D (sp?), and has been in such movies as High Fidelity and Orange County. In Shallow Hal, these two don't dissapoint, especially in the scenes where they are together. I was on the floor laughing during the scene where Mauricio (Alexander) and Hal (Black) are at the bar and Mauricio first notices that Hal is dancing, and ultimately desiring, people that most Americans would find physically unatractive. Also, Gwyneth Paltrow plays her role very well, and isn't a sappy romantic leading woman like most are these days (ehhhhem.....Julia Roberts). She plays Rosemary, a kind, but overweight woman who, after some therapy that only allows him to see the inner beauty in future woman, appears to Hal to look gorgeous. This should, potentially, set up some very funny situations, and it does at times. However, it doesn't always tend to.

More often than not, this sets up too many awkward situations where realistically, Rosemary would have said something like "I never wanna see you again, you a$$hole!" Such moments include the scene where Rosemary and Hal are at lunch after they just meet, and the two argue about her beauty. Hal tells her that she must be "what.....110, 112 pounds?" I don't know in what world the directors must have been in to honestly let that one slide, but most overweight women would have slapped Hal, and been out the door. And that's just one of many scenes like it. They make the some parts of the movie uncomfortable to watch, at best. Fortunately, Black and Alexander manage to keep you laughing after scenes like the aforementioned. The second flaw in this movie is the spell that Hal is under. If the spell was supposed to make Hal see the inner beauty in people, then their looks should not have changed. In other words, this spell that Tony Robbins (Anthony Robbins) puts Hal under doesn't allow Hal to beomce less shallow; he STILL only goes after women who look like models to him. So, all of a sudden, at the end of the movie, he is instantly able to look past Rosemary's weight, and falls for her THE FIRST TIME HE SEES THE REAL HER! Bogus!!! I don't buy it one bit!! However, the amount of genuine laughs this movie contains still merit it 3 stars.

I would have never got it.
It's a mix-mash of a movie.
You may still enjoy it, but it's almost like 3 movies in 1:
1. The comedy - Shallow Hal
2. The tasteless comedy - complete with Rhino and Water Buffalo jokes, breaking chairs, and other insults
3. The social commentary and heartwarming feel-good romance.

Mostly, it's #'s 1 & 2 that don't jive with each other. This isn't a 'straight' comedy, because it's marred with insensitive jokes that COULD have been used just to enhance the feelings at the beginning, but even at the end of the movie they're still throwing them around. It's just a mess of a movie. They add some feel-good commentary, but *other characters* don't act consistently, and when they do stir up more responsible feelings, they let them die under the next rhino joke.
Pathetic. If I want low-brow humor, I'll watch a Kevin Smith flick and love it. This was a stinker.

When this movie was first released there was some hype about how offensive it supposedly was to unattractive and/or overweight women. I'm not a plain-looking or heavy-set gal (or a woman, period, for that matter) so I can't say for sure if it is, and I won't dispute their word about it either, but having seen it a number of times it seems odd that the ones who should be insulted by this movie aren't really saying what they should about it. (Hmmm, makes me wonder if maybe some of the stuff that's said about pretty ladies here ARE true. Kidding.) Anyways, I just really wanna set the record straight here for anyone who thinks that the hogwash that's spewed in this movie about pretty women is true. Here it goes: my bro is a professional photographer, and a very damn good one, too. He's worked with Playboy Playmates, fashion models, actresses and dancers. In all the 12 years in his illustrious job he has NEVER had any problems or conflicts with any of them because of their personalities. There's never been any reason for that happening, either. They've all been some of the nicest and funniest people we've ever met. Yes, I know, I'm his assistant.

I'm not gonna be hypocritical, though. I did like this movie and I did laugh a lot, but all the characterizations are completely inaccurate. Who says that all unattractive women are particularly nice??? And as for Hal's pretty but shallow neighbor, do you really think she'd be chasing him after watching him dance with "a pack of stampeding buffalos"? Being equally superficial as Hal was I would think she'd be curious to know him if the ladies at the night club really did look as good as Hal imagined them to be in his mind. Oh, well. Perhaps the makers of this movie should get out more. Nevertheless, a pretty funny movie. Peace.

I did not expect much from Shallow Hal.I just expected your typical dumb comedy with the accompanying toilet humor and gag jokes.And it's not like Shallow Hal is an intelligent film or anything, and it does offer it's fair share of laughs.But it's not too over the top, and plus, the movie is a lot sweeter, and a lt more tasteful than one would expect.It's also surprisingly touching, and I actually cried during one part at the end.

I won't go into the plot, because I think that aspect is clear to practically everyone on the planet.I was even more surprised by how much I enjoyed Gwyneth Paltrow's performance.I'm not a big fan, but she was just completely luminous and charming and, needless to say, I was swept off my feet by her completely.Jack Black is, pretty much Jack Black, but his performance was enjoyable as were all the small supporting roles.

If you don't go in expecting Ghandi, there's a fat chance you'll be dissapointed.This is a film which is genuinely laugh out loud funny in a typical Farrely Brothers way, but it's also quite touching and sweet, and it totally won me over.

"Shallow Hal" is an amusing romantic comedy. "Hal," a very shallow man portrayed by Jack Black, is hypnotized by Tony Robbins to see the inner beauty in people. (An interesting idea, but how do you see INNER beauty before getting to know someone?) All in all, it's a pretty good film with a good story.

Hal wants to meet a perfect woman. He just sees her going into a shop. He dosen't know her but he likes her it is like love at first sight. It is so funny in the shop what he says to her and it is funny in other parts too. He Sees women thin when actually they are fat. But in the end his mind comes back again to see people what they actually look like. Still he still loves her and when they go away together, she goesin one side of the car and i'm surprised the car didn't break. [SO ]FUNNY.

I happened to tape this one night and I was kind of wary to watch it. I heard the good reviews that it was a good, lighthearted film. However, I am a bigger girl and that just made me apprehensive.

After finally being able to watch this, I give the Farrelly Bros. two thumbs up, along with Jack Black. Paltrow I thought did a good job at being kind of shy, yet accepting of how her character was.

Only thing that did not fit with this film were Rosemary's clothes. No way would a bigger girl wear a bikini, a skirt that went above her knees, high heels ALL the time, and tank tops. We know what to wear to make us look good and those certainly wouldn't work.

All in all, I recommend this film to all bigger people, ugly people, people with outrageously curly hair and braces. It'll make you not care about your physical appearance as much. Maybe you'll be less hard on yourself. I am now a die hard fan of Jack Black and the Farrelly Bros.

I loved this movie because it challenged our perceptions of what was beautiful and how truly shallow society's perception of beauty is. Jack Black was a comedic genius in this and had a strangely loveable quality about him. Gwyneth Paltrow was wonderful as Rosemary. Definately a must watch.