Shallow Hal

Released 2001
Stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Jack Black, Jason Alexander, Anthony Robbins, Joe Viterelli, Susan Ward
Directed by Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly

Shallow Hal is about a shallow man named Hal (Jack Black), but you probably already knew that. It's a romantic comedy about a man who made a promise to his dying daddy that he'd center his life around chasing hot young tail. The only problem is he and his friend Mauricio (Jason Alexander) are a couple of dorks. They spend all their time approaching young supermodel types when they should be happy with a Sears catalogue "plus" model. Early in the film, Hal is hypnotized by the banana-handed self-help guru, Tony Robbins, to only see the inner beauty of women. Tony also imbues Hal with great confidence in meeting the ladies. The hypnosis is a wild success, because Hal is now approaching women who no one else will talk to. One of those women is a 300 pound behemoth named Rosemary, who's such a beautiful woman inside that Hal sees her as the stunning Gwyneth Paltrow. We mostly see Rosemary as Hal sees her, but there are shots throughout the film that show how she really looks. The result of all of this is very funny and a little poignant. Gwyneth is amazing in her role, as she perfectly portrays the wounded Rosemary. You never forget she's actually 300 pounds, and her initial dates with Hal are a little uncomfortable. He sees her as a gorgeous hottie, but she doesn't know that. She's hurt each time he compliments her on her beauty, because  she thinks he's ridiculing her. That's something she's obviously familiar with, and up until that point it had been Hal's every day behavior.

The Farrelly brothers have no sacred cows. When it comes to comedy, they impose no boundaries on themselves. For example, they routinely use handicapped people in their films, and they have several in this one. The knee-jerk PC police have a problem with this, because they don't ever want to see such people be the brunt of a joke. What those types fail to understand is that the Farrellys see those people as people. They incorporate them into their stories, because they genuinely like them. In fact, they celebrate unusual or handicapped people. Take Walt (Rene Kirby), who's a real person with spina bifida. This guy's amazing ("Do I look like I have anything to complain about?"). He'd never admit he's a handicapped person. He's the type who'd say he's handi-abled and mean it. He has an amazing attitude, and he enthusiastically plays the hand he's been dealt. He and Rosemary are the butts of some jokes and the perpetrators of others, and, in the end, they're people just like everyone else.

Summary by Bill Alward, July 13, 2002