Shallow Hal

Unafraid of walking the fine line between the repellent and the human, Shallow Hal is wickedly funny but heartfelt.

Paltrow is truly touching. And Black, in his first big-time starring role, struts through with the blissful confidence of a man who knows he was born for stardom.

The movie is shrewd by giving the bulk of its piggish dialogue to Alexander, an actor incapable of projecting genuine cruelty on screen.

Not only light on laughs but discomfitingly didactic in its disgust.

Shallow Hal begs for the Farrellys to unleash their arsenal of offensiveness, but they want to be liked so much they appear afraid to offend. The result is safe, well-meaning and dull.

For the first time, the Farrellys seem to be embarrassed by their own crudeness. For the first time, they should be.

What they've done here goes beyond gross -- or clumsy, or dumb -- to genuine ugliness, both cutaneous and sub.

I love this film. It's not scared to call out society. Yes there are bad obese women, and good thin women, but this calls out shallow america that's obsessed with thin women. Big can be beautiful, it seems America forgets that, but Shallow Hal will always be the angel on America's shoulder reminding us that Big can be beautiful.

The superficial weight of a predictable moral: A 3.0-star rhythm of mid-tier nostalgia.2012 (3.0)I watched "Shallow Hal" in 2012, and it served as a functional, albeit safe, comedic experience that hovered right in the center of my rating scale. While the Farrelly brothers usually aim for a "sensational" blend of gross-out humor and heart, this 2001 relic felt a bit stagnant by the time I viewed it over a decade later. Jack Black brought a "raw" and energetic presence to his pathetic character, but the narrative rhythm followed a very conventional path that lacked the sharp, "chewy" edge of a true 5.0-star masterpiece. The 95% preservation of my memory suggests that while the concept of seeing inner beauty was a decent "revelation," the execution relied too heavily on dated tropes to truly shatter the fourth wall of my skepticism. It was far better than the "1.0-star traumas" of the same year, providing a mild visceral charm without the "silent frustration" of a hollow plot, yet it never quite reached the high-tension brilliance of films like "Chronicle." It stands in my archive as a solid 3.0-star record—a movie with a good heart that ultimately remained grounded in the safety of its own formulaic storytelling.

6.3/10 I mean yeah i kinda got the whole point of this movie,but I don't think I can't be fatphobic and criticize body stereotypes about people while writing this review...I will try my best First of all the plot of this movie was amazingly good at a point that me and my brother were wondering how is this even a comedy film from 2000's era,then some cringy scenes appeared and made it kinda **** movie had a daring plot and wasn't afraid to express it's messages which is something I have to admit about it. The cast tho was good, Jack Black and Gwyneth Paltrow sure had a good chemistry and helped the point of the movie getting better and better the rest of the cast was also good but nothing way too impressive to talk about. The soundtrack as well as the writing were classic and normal nothing way too cool or way too awkward just good a good begging a good story but a **** ending... I mean yeah Jack Black understood the meaning of the movie but no Hollywood you can't tell this huge lie straight to the viewer's face cause this ending and basically the whole film is a huge right thing people should do,which means that they have to respect the people for eho they really are but sadly nobody wants to accept it because let's be clear now girls and boys who would like a fat woman that is capable of dying from diabetes at any moment like the female protagonist or maybe a fat guy that is also capable of dying from diabetes nobody because we all are baesd on falsy stereotypes which is something the movie tries to express but not in a way it was supposed to be... In conclusion,"Shallow Hal" is a good and maybe a little deep movie, but way too awkward to watch and boring after a certain point, which I don't wanna spoil to the rest of you who haven't seen it, watch it if you want but if you don't tho there is literally nothing to lose...

Une bonne surprise que cette comédie a priori bien lourde, qui exploite quelques bonnes idées qui s’avèrent contre toute attente souvent drôles. Quel dommage que ça vire à la comédie très neuneu et trop politiquement correcte dans le dernier tiers du film !On sombre alors dans du vague psychodrame pourrave à n’en plus pouvoir. Cela étant, pour une « œuvre » (!) des frères Farrelly, c’est bien entendu très regardable ! non, pas forcément recommandable mais très regardable (oui, c’est fou). Un bon sujet à l’origine qui aurait mérité un meilleur traitement, notamment moins de guimauve et de leçons de morale à un dollar.

I think this film would have been a lot better if it was more of a drama than a comedy and if Jack Black wasnt the lead. Its rather corny and too straight forward and predictable. Jack Black is disapointing and actually makes the film even dumber then what it should be. Overall the story was interesting but the execution was terrible.