Rating: 
Summary: "SHALLOW HAL wants a gal"
Review: "Have you ever heard the phrase beauty is in the eye of the beholder?"
"Have you ever heard the song WHO LET THE DOGS OUT?"
Oh, trust me, SHALLOW HAL is absolutely full of one-liners like that, and that is probably the best line in the whole movie. The movie opens with the titular character promising his dying father to only date chicks with huge breasts. Hal (Jack Black) grows up to be the king of all womanizers, although he ain't so anantomically perfect and neither is his equally un-seductive buddy Mauricio (Jason Alexander),whose even more shallow than Hal. Hal's attitude changes with an elevetor encounter with Tony Robbins (Himself),who alters Hal's outlook on looks so that he can only see people for what's inside. He soon winds up in the sack with Rosemary (Gweneth Paltrow), whos may appear to be the perfect dream date to Hal, but is actually a gloroiusly overweight cookie monster. How over weight is she? Well, let's put it this way. When Rosemary causes that cahir with steel legs to collapse under her, it's a sign to buy about $500 worth of slimfast. This is, of course, a Farrely brothers movie, so that not the only joke Rosemary is the butt of. There's one scene where she and Hal are in a canoe, with her in front in Hal in back.Who do you think is five feet higher than he should be? Then, one of the best scenes is where Rosemary removes her extra small underwear, tosses them to Hal, and suddenly, they've blown up to the size of a pitbull. I don't think I've ever laughed as hard at a comedy, at least not at a Farrely brothers film. Boy, they sure know how to make you laugh.
Rating: 
Summary: Uneasy mix.
Review: Low brow puerile antics do not sit well alongside 'heartfelt' (I meant that as sarcastically as it seems) social didacticism. Obesity is a many faceted problem facing your country. A film like this, although 'rip roaringly funny' at times, is as intellectually vacuous as one of the many confections our gal pal fat-suited Gwyneth character stuffs down her well worn gullet. The Farrely's seem not to want to proliferate their views that much further, thereby plonking their gas-stockpiled posteriors down on either one or the other side of the proverbial polemic fence. 'Toilet humour' is a miniscule impingement on various social values, mores etc., which does not skim the surface of 'what lies beneath'(e.g. bodily function/scat jokes, which do relate to the violation widespread personal hygene habits versus a sociological study of the lack of tangible faith in the American psyche leading to abesity- or something....). The creators of this film seem to want to supplicate and genuflect at the audience for all the un-p.c., audience alienating (many of your box office punters are, indeed, overweight) 'fat jokes' by tacking on episodes of such sacharrine sweetness and banality throughout the film and especially towards the eye-rollingly soporific denoument. The film misses the mark on both comedic and 'stern socio-cultural commentary' counts, diluting it's hilarity with apology and penance. 'Classic' Farrely this is not. Conversely, a dissertation by Foucault or Derrida this is not, but you knew that already.
Rating:
Summary: Really funny romantic comedy that is a must for your library
Review: The Farrelly brothers have done it again. After creating cinematic jewels like 'Something about Mary' and 'Dumb and Dumber', they've created a truly incredible romantic sweet comedy that will have you laughing through the whole money.This money stars Jack Black, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jason Alexander among a great ensemble cast that really makes this movie. The movie is about Hal Larson played by Jack Black and his quest to find the perfect woman. I love Hal's description of the perfect woman that includes parts of Michelle Pieffer, Britney Spears, Paulina, Heidi Klum, Rebecca Romain and many other. There is also a great cameo from Banana Hands aka. Tony Robbins in this movie. Basically Hal gets stuck in the elevator with Tony Robbins who hypnotizes Hal to only see the inner beauty of the women he meets and this leads to him falling in love with Rosemary, incredibly played by Gwyneth Paltrow. Hal sees Rosemary as a drop-dead gorgeous blonde who weighs about 110 lbs. In reality Rosemary is a huge woman in the 350+ lbs range. You can just imagine the comedy writing itself as this movie unfolds. Another great thing about this movie is the soundtrack. There are some great songs from Sheryl Crow, Shelby Lynne, Phoenix, Cake among others. I just love the song 'Too Young' by Phoenix in the movie, but you won't see if in the soundtrack if you buy the CD. My wife and I just love this movie and we've watched it over 20 times since we got the DVD. We just don't seem to get tired of this movie. This is a must for your DVD library.
Rating: 
Summary: Pleasantly surprising and sweet
Review: I was shocked that I found this movie to be as sweet and sensitive and I did. And you have to love a movie that gave us the word 'cankles.' Hal is a pathologically shallow person, as is his best friend (ironically, they are so out of their league with the women they pursue it's truly comical). In a chance meeting with Tony Robbins in a stuck elevator, Hal is given the gift of seeing beauty in those he would normally not find so beautiful. Our hypnotized hero falls for RoseMary, a strikingly good woman who also happens to weigh about 300 lbs. But Hal's hypnosis blinds him to her girth and he only sees the beauty in her. And so goes typical romantic comedy...boy meets girl, boy loses girl.... Jack Black gives a very nice performance as a 'lounge lizard' who learns the error of his ways and what true love really means. Even Gweneth Paltrow manages to portray the mannerisms of a fat person as a skinny person. (her thin Rosemary is embodied with all the self-concious ticks, and they are displayed very low key.) I did feel the DVD extras left a lot to be desired, but this was a film I didn't expect to like, and it's now a favorite.
Rating:
Summary: funny movie with a good message
Review: i disagree with the people on this site who only gave the movie 2 or 3 stars this movie was definetly 4 stars . it was funny, sweet and had a good message behind it all. i recomend this and its worth the money. its entertaining throughtout whole movie and ending was nice. worth the money.
Rating:
Summary: 2.5 Stars - Not especially good or memorable.
Review: "Shallow Hal" introduces us to Hal Larson, a man completely obsessed with physical beauty due to his father's dying (but heavily drugged) words. Even though he is not overly-attractive himself, Hal persues only Barbie-Doll-Perfect women with terribly limited success until he meets Tony Robbins, noted self-help wiz. Robbins "de-hypnotizes" Hal, allowing him to see the inner beauty of a person reflected in their outward appearance. Thus, hefty Rosemary (a "rhino," to quote Jason Alexander's character, Mauricio) appears to Hal to be a slim, attractive Gwenyth Paltrow, and other stereotypically unattractive women appear to be supermodels. Theoretically, this teaches us that external beauty isn't important - it's what's inside that counts. Lovely idea; however, it is carried off through faulty logic. The trouble is that by showing inner beauty as external beauty, the movie reinforces the whole Physical Beauty Matters concept. Argh. It would be difficult to pull this movie off without doing that, though, and overall, the movie is generally sensitive to size and physical appearance issues. The writers address some of the harsh realities of being large without losing their comedic edge, and of course Hal learns some important life lessons along the way. Paltrow does a lovely job of being aware of her size without being apologetic - she is brave and strong, but still a bit vulnerable and very sweet. Naturally, there has to be some conflict here somewhere, right? Hal couldn't simply be happy with Rosemary and have the movie end. No, well-intentioned Mauricio hunts down Robbins and finds out how to reverse the hypnotism. Much trauma ensues after, of course, and I won't ruin the (predictable) ending. The movie is basically fairly enjoyable fluff, without much redeeming social value. Jack Black is his usual charming, doofy self, and Gwenyth is lovely, shy and quick-witted. There are surely better movies in this genre, but if nothing else is on...
Rating:
Summary: Better than I thought it would be, but still shallow...
Review: I admit that I reluctantly watched this movie. When the credits rolled, I also reluctantly admitted that it wasn't as bad or as offensive as I had anticipated. The bottom line is that "Shallow Hal" does have a moral that is superficially open-minded and good. However, don't delve too deeply, because you will get mired in the paradox that inner beauty is represented by physical beauty in the movie or that at the end, although Hal loves Rosemary, is he really attracted to the "real" woman? I agree with other reviewers that there was less comedy in this movie, as most of the jokes centered around Rosemary breaking furniture or other people calling her a rhino. The funniest moment probably involves Jason Alexander and his secret physical flaw. Ultimately, it is difficult to get past the idea that the comedy in this movie is at the expense of those less physically attractive, but the moral is that physical beauty does not true love make. Also, the extras on this DVD are relatively disappointing, as you are grateful the deleted scenes were deleted, and the interviews are predictable (Gwyneth: "It's about a guy named Hal who is shallow..."). The extras add no depth.
Rating:
Summary: I thought the ending could of been better
Review: When Shallow Hal sees Rosemary at the end she didnt look that bad fat. She was still a beautiful woman even though she was fat.
And he was mean to the people that were bad looking after his hypnosis went away. I thought they could of made Rosemary less attractive than she actually was and show that he was really a changed person.
Rating:
Summary: Wow.
Review: I'm really surprised that so many people missed the point!
First of all, look at the men in this movie that are doing the judging! Not exactly super models themselves, are they? A bit insecure themselves, they have to pick apart every woman that cross their paths.
I thought this was an important movie because of the equally important message. Let's knock it off with the superficial beauty stuff and get to what is really important!
Aside from the message, this was also a funny movie! I realize everyone is different when it comes to laughs. I'd be surprised if you didn't at least smile one time, or feel touched by one scene!
See it with an open mind and leave all your insecurities at the threshold. There's no room for them here!
Rating:
Summary: yeah
Review: Funny stuff, but I'm a little confused. Was Gwen Paltrow suppose to be the hot chick? And don't you think Jack Black would have noticed the extra girth when they were bumpin' uglies?
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