Gwyneth Paltrow is quite a beauty, isn't she? I know that some people don't like her, but I do. She's immensely talented, she's gorgeous, and she seems to be intelligent. I don't know what it is about her, but whenever I see her in a movie, I like her character instantly. I especially liked her in "Shakespeare in Love," "Sliding Doors," and "Bounce." In "Shallow Hal," once again, I loved her character. That is, I loved her character when she looked like Gwyneth Paltrow. Once I saw her as a 350-pound woman (Gwyneth in a fat suit), I suddenly didn't like her character as much. I like to think of myself as someone who doesn't prejudge people. Well, I do. Not only that, in the case of "Shallow Hal," I got to discover her personality, like the personality, and then when I saw her as a fat person, I didn't like her as much. I'm far from perfect, and that right there is additional proof.
"Shallow Hal" is a movie that has no way of resolving itself in a way that would be, at the same time, good, realistic, and satisfying. Getting all those things in this movie's ending would be impossible. So no, the ending of this movie is flawed, but what woulda been the perfect ending? I sure as hell don't know.
This movie is like three movies in one. It's a romantic comedy, it's a comedy that pokes fun at overweight people, and it's a tragic film that tries to get people to sympathize with overweight people. On all counts, it did okay, it didn't completely fail in any of them. But it didn't do great in any of them either. In fact, trying to be all three at the same time was only making it harder to enjoy the movie. For example, in the middle, while feeling sorry for Gwyneth Paltrow's character, really liking her, hoping that everything works out at the end between the two main characters, the last thing I wanted to see was a cruel slapstick moment to make fun of her weight.
I don't wanna make it seem like I'm totally trashing this movie, because in truth, I liked it. It's just that it coulda been great. Ultimately, I did enjoy it. As a romantic comedy, it wasn't excellent, but I liked it. I cared about the two main characters, I thought it was sweet, and I wanted to see the couple together at the end. As a comedy making fun of overweight people, yeah, it was funny. But not all the time. A lot of the fat jokes were poorly timed. Where it works best, I think, is as a tragic film trying to get people to sympathize with overweight people. Actually, I should say unattractive people. I can't say why I broaden it that way, because that gives away too much, but there's a scene that almost moved me to tears. It's a very powerful scene in the movie.
It's common knowledge, so I don't think I'm giving anything away when I say that the gimmick is that the main character only sees the inner beauty of the characters in the movie. For example, if a horribly ugly woman is a sweet person with a good heart, the main character wouldn't see her as an ugly woman, he would see her as a supermodel. But as a plot device, it's terribly flawed. It doesn't work on everybody, and it's never explained why that is. It's a little too selective as to who it works on.
Again, I need to stress that I like this movie. I sat there, I laughed, I liked the characters, and I enjoyed the movie. It's just that the flaws are really frustrating ones, and it coulda been awesome. It's not easy to do tragic comedies, but I think that's what they were trying to make with "Shallow Hal." When it came to tragic comedies, no one made them better than Charlie Chaplin. Almost every single one of his feature films are considered masterpieces, but the one I think is the best is "City Lights." What an amazing movie. Personally, I don't see how anyone CAN'T like that movie, even if the person watching it doesn't like silent films. "City Lights" is one of the best movies ever made. The best example I could give you for a recent great tragic comedy is "Life is Beautiful." It's no coincidence that Roberto Benigni, that films director, co-writer, and star, has been compared to Charlie Chaplin.
"Shallow Hal" was directed by Bobby & Peter Farrelly, the Farrelly Brothers. Together, they've done "Dumb & Dumber," "Kingpin," "There's Something About Mary" and "Me, Myself & Irene." I liked "Dumb & Dumber," and I liked "Kingpin" even more. With "There's Something About Mary," they made their biggest mark in Hollywood. In my review of that movie, I made it seem like I didn't think it was all that great. Well, I never claimed to be a great critic. I actually LOVE "There's Something About Mary," and I've seen it about ten times. But since then, they did "Me, Myself & Irene," which was a box office disappointment, and the one they did after that, "Osmosis Jones," was a flat out bomb. I don't think that "Shallow Hal" is gonna do as well as "There's Something About Mary," but it can't do much worse than "Osmosis Jones." The script for "Shallow Hal" was written by the Farrelly Brothers and Sean Moynihan. This is Moynihan's debut as a writer in a feature film.
I like the cast a lot. I already raved about Gwyneth Paltrow, but I'll do it again. She's radiant. Her character is totally lovable, and she really makes you feel for her, even though it's kinda hard once you see her in the fat suit. Oh, and there's this part where she's wearing a bikini (without the fat suit), and she looks so hot! She has a very nice belly. Damn near perfect, I'd say. The title character is played by Jack Black, who was recently in "High Fidelity" and "Saving Silverman." I saw "High Fidelity" on DVD, and he's really great in it. I've never seen "Saving Silverman," so I don't know. "Shallow Hal" is his first starring role, and though he may not look like leading man material, I thought he did a great job. His best friend is played by Jason Alexander, who you may remember as "George Costanza" in "Seinfeld." His character is vulgar, and to me, he had all the funniest lines. The most unusual casting was Joe Viterelli as Gwyneth Paltrow's father. Joe Viterelli is very Italian looking, and in just about every movie he's in, he plays a mobster. Typically, it'll be in a mobster comedy where he plays a likable mobster, like with "Mickey Blue Eyes," "Mafia!" and "Analyze This." The thing is, in this movie, he has an Irish accent. I have no idea why, it's completely unnecessary to the story, but I found it a bit jarring. I don't think he did a bad job, though. Self-help guru Anthony Robbins (called "Tony Robbins" in this movie) has a pretty significant role, and I was impressed with his acting. I didn't expect him to be as good as he was.
"Shallow Hal" is a movie loaded with problems, and it's flaws are glaring, but there's plenty in it to like. I just wish that they decided on one direction to go on, and take it full-throttle. But I laughed a lot, and I got to see Gwyneth Paltrow's belly. Sometimes, that's all I need.
Scale of 1-10: 7