Shallow Hal Review
by Jon Popick (jpopick AT sick-boy DOT com)November 3rd, 2001
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If you're planning to see Shallow Hal with the expectation it will be as funny as the Farrelly brothers' Kingpin or Dumb and Dumber, you may be in for one of the year's biggest disappointments. Hal doesn't offer nearly enough gags to quench the thirst of the typical Farrelly fan, making some stretches of the film unbearably slow. People sick enough to get their jollies from making fun of the obese and the physically challenged (and I'm certainly one of 'em) won't find Hal disgusting enough to suit their warped tastes, and the morons out there who insist on fighting the good fight of the perpetually downtrodden (like guilt-ridden white folks who want the Chiefs and Redskins to change their names) will be downright appalled by what they see on the screen.
Jack Black (Saving Silverman) plays the titular Hal, who is every bit as shallow as the name of the film suggests...but it's not his fault. See, when little Hal was nine, his dying father (literally - he was a reverend) gave him an important deathbed instruction not to settle for mediocre trim. Flash forward several decades, where an adult Hal and his womanizing sidekick, Mauricio (Jason Alexander, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle), patrol clubs looking for hot single women like those dicks from A Night at the Roxbury. Hal and Mauricio are hardly the type of guys you'd usually find on the arm of the finest women, but the pudgy pals insist on perfection when it comes to the ladies. Mauricio even jettisoned his latest squeeze, who could have been a Victoria's Secret model, because the piggy that stayed home was bigger than the one that went to market (sounds like something Jerry would do, eh?).
Hal's life takes an interesting turn when he finds himself trapped in an elevator with motivational speaker Tony Robbins, who hypnotizes the petty porker into being able to see only the inner beauty in women. Almost immediately, Hal falls in love with a girl named Rosemary Shanahan who happens to be both his boss' daughter and a behemoth of ungodly magnitude. But thanks to the hypnosis, Hal sees Rosemary as a grade-A knockout (she's played by Gwyneth Paltrow, Bounce) because she's in the Peace Corps and volunteers at a local children's hospital.
After an awkward initial dating period (leaving a trail of broken restaurant chairs behind them), the two lovebirds begin to grow closer, but nobody can believe Hal's intentions are sincere. His coworkers (Laura Kightlinger and Black's Tenacious D partner Kyle Gass) think he's hitting the boss' daughter to get a promotion, and Rosemary's dad (played by Analyze This' Joe Viterelli...doing an Irish accent) feels the exact same way.
In this regard, Hal does a decent job of showing - right or wrong - how society reacts to the obese. It's the kind of message that gets lost in the sight gags and gross-out humor. Now, I'm not making any excuses for the predictable Hal, but if you think about it, the film isn't quite as evil as it may seem on the surface. It never portrays women in a negative light - if anything, it bends over backward to show how stupid it is to be superficial. As long as you can get over the fact you're watching an anorexic Oscar winner poke fun at chunky girls, a guy with Spina Bifida and an incredibly manipulative scene with burn victims, you won't be totally repulsed by the film. The Farrellys (Me, Myself and Irene) have always been equal opportunity offenders, and you need to realize this before planting your ass in the theatre.
I love Black, but we'd all be much better off if he just remained the comedic sidekick, like he was in High Fidelity. This was his big chance to become the next Rob Schneider, but it just didn't happen. Paltrow does pretty well but kept reminding me of watching Sophie Marceau in the David Spade vehicle Lost and Found. Until his showstopper at the end, Alexander is annoying (nearly as much so as his Bob Patterson) and virtually unnecessary to the story. On the plus side, most of what you see in Hal's trailer comes in a quick montage about a third of the way into the film. Some of the movie's scenes are kind of sweet, but at least as many will make you wince uncomfortably (in some cases, after you're done laughing)
1:43 - PG-13 for language and sexual content
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