Shallow Hal

Starring: Jack Black, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jason Alexander
Directed by: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy, Drama
2001

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A shallow man (Jack Black) is granted a rare gift (or curse)- when he looks at people, he only sees their inner beauty or ugliness- not their external looks. This proves to be a problem when he meets the woman (Gwyneth Paltrow) of his dreams, who looks beautiful to him- but overtly obese to everyone else.

Review:

Tim: The most amazing thing about Shallow Hal is that the movie actually works. The Farrelly Brothers managed to make a very funny movie, include sexual and juvenile humor, and make the movie uplifting and inspirational as well. This is a monumental achievement, because the movie is very watchable as well.

Jack Black and Gwyneth Paltrow work surprisingly well together. Normally, I would imagine these two actors would have absolutely no chemistry together. However, despite all odds, they work well together. Jack Black is his usual over-the-top hilarious self, although he did scale it back quite a bit. The real performance, though, belongs to Paltrow. She manages to be wonderful, charming, and yet exudes inner beauty as well. You believe she's a beautiful woman, but you also believe she's incredibly insecure and sad. Her performance makes this movie. Jason Alexander plays the silly sidekick, but there have been better sidekicks in movies. He is decent, but nothing spectacular.

This movie works because it first seeks to entertain. The premise of the movie is brilliant, and allows the producers to mine some serious comedic gold. However, the movie isn't a straight-up comedy- it also has some very dramatic moments, and these are balanced out very well. The film also has a seriously worthwhile message about the inner beauty of people and importance of seeing deep into someone to truly understand who they are. This is a powerful, important message, and it is delivered in a strong way- it never feels preachy or crammed down our throats. This is an achievement.

Shallow Hal is certainly not a flawless movie. At times it strays all over the place- occasionally it is too much a comedy, othertimes, it needs a jolt of laughter to break up some overly serious scenes. The movie also flals apart a bit in the third act before recovering for the film's conclusion. Still, this movie is far better than it probably should have been. The fact that it does work, on so many different levels, makes this movie well worth watching.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



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