Shallow Hal

Rating:
Summary: Personality reflects real beauty...
Review: On the fathers death bed Hal receives some advice for his existence that he should follow as he grows up. This advice involves to only have women with external beauty, which causes Hal to have an extreme shallow outlook on life and love. One day he gets into an elevator with a self-help expert, Tony Robbins, and the elevator gets stuck between floors. Hal tells his life story to Tony and Tony understands Hal's shallow view on life and helps him see the inner beauty of people. Shallow Hal is a hilarious comedy with laughs and moral messages that most can identify themselves with, since it is a very appropriate tale of modern society.

Rating:
Summary: GWYNETH PALTROW SHINES IN FUNNY BUT HEARTWARMING 'HAL'
Review: In the new comedy Shallow Hal, ridiculous, sometimes funny jokes are mostly alleviated by Gwyneth Paltrow's great performance in the heart-filled comedy.
The story focuses on the life of a shallow man named Hal, played by Jack Black (High Fidelity). He spends his nights with his shallow buddy Mauricio (Jason Alexander), hanging out in dance clubs, hitting on beautiful women completely out their league. Hal leads a simple, arrogant, and particularly useless life. From the beginning of the film, we remember the brief scene that shows Hal as a child, in a hospital, talking to his dying father, who is heavily sedated with pain killers. His father gives him some pretty atrocious advice for picking out women, saying "marrying for love got him in trouble..." Unaware of his father's "morphine trip," he is somewhat hypnotized after he's traumatized from his father's later passing. As fate would have it, when Hal is all grown up he gets trapped in an elevator with self-guru Tony Robbins, who gives Hal an amazing gift: to see the inner beauty of people. Since the death of Hal's father, he's been choosing women to date solely based on their appearance, and only their appearance. Hal is "dehypnotized," as Tony calls it, to see the people (especially women) how they really are, literally. When Hal meets Rosemary (played by Paltrow, sometimes in a fat-suit), an obese but amazing woman with generous and friendly qualities, though her hurt has been covered up. Thanks to Hal's meeting with Tony Robbins, he sees Rosemary as Paltrow's sexy, slender and fit self, though he is the only one who can see her like this. As Hal's perception is completely messed up, we are taken through some mildly offensive and frivolous jokes that involve Hal being the only person who cannot see that Rosemary's overweight. When Hal compliments her, unaware of his "gift," she can only take his comments as immature or sarcastic. Paltrow's excellence doesn't make her differentiate between "thin Rosemary" and "overweight Rosemary," which really helps in giving people the message they need to receive.
Directed by the Farrelly Brothers (There's Something About Mary), the film really does have a big-hearted sensitive side that can clearly be seen if you look at the moral of the story. Shallow Hal is a combination of silly gags and difficult situations. Besides some of the comedy, the film takes us through some hard situations that involve hurtful comments and embarrassing situations when one is different. Rosemary states "I know what I am and I know what I'm not," and gets offended when Hal calls her beautiful. Up to the end, the overall film is a beauty that originally reflects the message of true love. Black and Paltrow work well together, and the film is funny, but not because of some brief "fat jokes." It's these jokes that are only a shallow spot in a deep lake.

Rating:
Summary: Shallow Hal
Review: I would like to talk toi you about what my impression was in regard to this movie. This movie talks about how many people in our actual society only look at outside qualities in each person when they try to find the perfect woman or man, they only search the outside beauty. They don not think about inside qualities that evyone has, like feelings, thoughts, intelligence, and honesty, which are the most important values in each human being. In addition, they only want to have a beatiful woman or a beautiful man.

In this movie you can see good and bad points. For instance, I can tell you that the most important point in this world is not the external beauty, rather the internal beauty just as Shall saw in Rossmery. Also, I can tell you one bad point that the human beings still have, it is to look at the physical aspect when we need to find our perfect partner.

In this movie Shall is trying to find his perfect woman who must be beautiful for outside, but he has not ever thought in the inside world that everyone has. On day, he found an important businessman who hypnotized him. At this time, Shall could see the inside beauty in everybody reflected in their outside body. Next, he found his perfect woman called Rossmery. In the begining she could not understand him because she knew that she was not a beautiful woman, but she decided to accept him. Then, they shared many things together, and they fell in love with eache other.

Then Shall's friend who could see the reality went to the businessman's office and he explaned to him what has happened with Shall. After that, Shall lost the hypnotism and he was able to see the reality. Then he did no talk to Rossmery and he turned her down. finally, he recognized his feeling and love for her, and ge decided to accept her just as she is. He searched her and they they lived happily ever after.

I think this movie has several topics very controversies inside our actual society with for instance, fatness, ugliness, beauty and inteligence. Also I think that our society is influenced for by different means of communications, which sell us the stereotype about the perfect woman or perfect man. In consequence, many people only search the outside beauty without looking inside each person.

I like this movie because it show that ouside beauty can be the reflection of our inside world. In conclusion, I think that the most important is what you believe about yourself because these thoughts are shown in your outside body.

Rating:
Summary: On a wet Wednesday night......... Watch something else!
Review: I thought that "There's something about Mary" was one of the funniest comedy's of the 90's, definitely not the most sophisticated, but hilarious nonetheless.

With that in mind, I thought "Shallow Hal" the storyline of which had the potential to be something truly special, was an abysmal failure. I wasn't offended by it; I just thought that it had an astounding lack of humour. Gag's passed me by ("Cankles" am I missing something here?) and the low humour that made Mary so enjoyable was strained here, like a class clown who is trying too hard. The one joke (that Hal couldn't see the physical reality of the people around him) was repeated ad-nausum, the characters lacked any kind of depth, being reduced mere caricatures. The scene with the little girl in the burns unit which had the potential to touch the viewer and to be the pivot point in both the film and Hal's life was handled with out the slightest hint of subtlety, which combined with Black's limited acting range, meant that this potentially magical and horrific scene would have been better left on the cutting room floor.

Not even the normally wonderful Gwyneth Paltrow made this pap watch able. [...]

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Summary: to all you protestors
Review: Hi! I'm an overweight woman who dropped out of Afghanistan high school cuz it's too hard. I am working at McDonalds and using my money for lots and lots of food. I saw this movie's trailer and I was offended. It's saying that all fat women are ugly and big. I think that's wrong because lots of fat women are not fat than Gwenith Pawltrow and she was smart so why are you saying i'm not like her because I'm fat? Everyone was a steryotype and Jak Blak was stoopid. bye."

Ha! Please. Those one-star reviewers are complaining for THEIR PROBLEMS! For one thing, they haven't seen the film. Here's the plot: Jack Black is a selfish man who only likes women who have beauty who is one day given the power by a hypnotist (or something of that nature) to see women not for their genetical beauty but their INNER BEAUTY. So he meets a friendly, yet obese young women (Gwenith Paltrow) and falls in love not knowing her physical appearance. Jack Black sees her as a gorgeous young woman not knowing her true appearance. Jason Alexander tries to persuade him not to keep going out with her since he can see her for real. I won't give the ending away simply because I don't want to. It gives the message that beauty may be in the eyes of the beholder, but it can be even more likely to behold someone's inner beauty through basic understanding. Of course, most of you protestors are too dumb to understand that. Because of message however, there is not a huge emphasis on acting IMO. They all do a decent job though.

Second: Where does the movie say anything about it being bad to be fat? huh??? Does the movie's MESSAGE SAY ANYTHING ABOUT IT BEING BAD TO BE LIKE YOU????? um, no. Read above.

Third: If you don't like the looks of the movie, don't see it. Simple. If the trailer is too much for you, that's another story...

Fourth: Why blame a comedy for discrimination against fat people? I don't remember that being a very big issue. It's just a waste of space. The African American people were important because they had very few rights and were constantly victims of violence and almost no films were racial bias against them all. Do lots of fat people have very few rights? No. They have the same rights as you or I have and aren't always the focus in these types of films. Genetical disfigurement (or whatever you wish to call it) and semi-screwball comedy have little or no connection.

Anyway, I would recommend this film to someone who has an open-mind and is not offended by unimportant trifles. It's not really one of the best films I've seen, but if you want to call on it for entertainment, THAT I would recommend. I hope this gets posted :)

Rating:
Summary: GREATEST OF ALL TIME!
Review: This was the best movie ever made in the history of movimaking! I think for Jack Black it wasn'tn too groos or it didn't have TOO much crude humor as Jack Black would normally have. The plot was really cute and it was so great. If I were rating this movie I would give it 3½because well, I don't have a particular reason for taking a half a star away it just wasn't a four star movie. That's all!

Rating:
Summary: What was all that fuss about??
Review: Shallow Hal is funny and a deeper movie than you would expect.After the hoo-ha and protests that it wasn't fair to fat people,the movie was not what I thought it would be.It was better.The Farrely brothers managed to get the Beauty-comes-From-inside message through loud and clear.The plot of the movie involves Hal,who is so shallow that he only dates the most gorgeous girls,then he is hypnotized to see everyone as they are on the inside.He meets overweight Rosemary and sees a slim bombshell.He meets Rosemary's friend,a grumpy children's nurse,and sees the outwardly beautiful girl as a shrivelled up old hag!!He meets child burn victims and does not see their scars.It is an enjoyable movie.

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Summary: The Farrelly Brothers Get Sappy
Review: Some of my favorite comedies these days are There's Something About Mary and Dumb and Dumber, so I was excited about the release of Shallow Hal. I was surprisingly disappointed by the film however. The film focusses on a VERY shallow skirt chaser Hal (Jack Black)whose sexy (and one week) girlfriend Jill (Susan Ward)has just dumped him. Then one day at work, Hal runs into Tony Roberts in an elevator. When the elevator breaks down, Hal tells Roberts about his breakup with Jill, leading to him confessing how shallow he is in terms of women. Roberts then gives Hal advice and also the ability to see only the inner beauty of women. In conclusion, Hal's friend Mauricio (Jason Alexander) is a bit surprised when he sees Hal dancing with three women who look like supermodels to Hal, but hags to Mauricio. Then one day Hal meets Rosemary (Gwenyth Paltrow) whom he sees as a slim, buxom, and charming woman, but in reality is an extremely obese not-so-hottie. The two begin dating and fall in love, before Hal loses his ability to see inner beauty. The film is basically about 90 minutes of fat jokes, and romance that seems too clean and tranquil for a film by Peter and Bobby Farrelly. Some of the jokes are genuinely funny, but many feel rehashed and corny. If you want a comedy that will have you in stitches, I wouldn't recommend Shallow Hal. Otherwise, I'd rent it rather than buy it.

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Summary: Worth The Weight!
Review: In this comedy outing from the well known Farrelly Brothers team, we have a young, average-looking man named Hal, whose father convinced him as an impressionable youngster, that only the attractive women in the world, are worth persuing. Dad said this, never taking into account, that being attractive himself, or the actual shortage of good looks on Hals' part, would be a detriment to his persuits. He thinks he's got every right to demand perfection in women, and he won't settle for anyone more in his league. ................ After countless rebuffs in clubs and bars with a fellow shallow Pal, Seinfeld alum, Jason Alexander WITH hair, he meets Anthony Robbins, self help guru while trapped in an elevator.Hal confides in Robbins, who plays himself, and Robbins comes up with a way to make Hal see the inner beauty of women, thus making him irresistible to all. ................ The laughs begin as Hal doesn't realize that from that moment on, what he sees, is not what the rest of the world is seeing. Particularly when he meets Rosemary, a seemingly beautiful blonde played by Gwyneth Paltrow. He persues her, much to her chagrined surprise, and his buddy played by Alexander who tries to tell Hal the truth, but to no avail. No matter how many chairs are broken, laughs chuckled, fingers pointed, and meals gobbled, Hal believes that she is a knockout, although in reality, she's morbidly obese. .............. While this sounds offensive to the overweight, it is actually done quite tastefully. There aren't the endless fat jokes one would expect, particularly with the Farrelly track record of bizarre comedies like "There's Something About Mary", "Dumb and Dumber" and particularly "Me Myself And Irene" which treads in sensitive waters as well. It's not that there aren't moments that may offend, but for the majority of the film, tolerance, acceptance and kindness to those who don't conform to the general standard of beauty, are emphasized. Black as Hal is very earnest, and physically reminiscent of a young John Belushi. Paltrow and Alexander also give convincing performances. I found Paltrows' portrayal of an overweight girl new to romance particularly bittersweet. Her performance gives the script just the right touch of credibilty, and that makes eveything ALMOST believable. .................. I would recommend "Shallow Hal" to anyone looking for a fun, entertaining comedy that will make you smile while watching it. This is especially perfect for that moment where you're in the mood for something "not too heavy."

Rating:
Summary: Heavyweight praise for a good movie
Review: Let me start off by saying I am a big person (okay, fat) and I loved this film. Hal is a lovable but misguided buffoon who learns to see the inner beauty in others, because of a spell cast by self-help guru Tony Robbins. The movie contains some hilarious scenes, ex. Rosemary jumping in the pool, but these are not the main theme of the movie. Hal falling in love with a woman for who she really is was the primary point, and it was handled well. Not a terribly "deep" movie, but definitely a cute, fun flick. Much better than what the Brothers have done in the past.