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Do you judge a person - particularly a woman - by her outward appearance? If you do, you're "shallow" and that's the message played out in this comedy.

The humor in here is good, very funny in spots. There are plenty of jokes and sight gags. If you are obese and very sensitive, then skip this film because you won't appreciate some of the humor in this film. But, if you can laugh at yourself, you'll enjoy it too - and especially the message this film brings.

Jack Black was pretty much of an unknown actor when this came out, but he's well-known now after School Of Rock, King Kong and other films. Gwyneth Paltrow everyone knows. She looked very pretty in here, maybe the best I've ever seen her. Jason Alexander and Joe Viterelli provide good supporting help. By the way, it was strange hearing Viterelli with an Irish accent. This is a guy who almost always plays Mafia types.

The only thing offensive to me was the beginning with some irreverent humor that was not needed, not part of the story, just a cheap shot against ministers. Also, for a lightweight comedy, the profanity could have been less. Can't someone make a modern-day comedy without language and sex issues? I wish someone would at least try. It can be done - just look at the classics!

Anyway, this is still a pretty funny story with, of course, a good message about judging a book by its cover.

From the posters and trailers, you'd expect the Farrelly Brothers to be crude and offensive with this kind of material but it really isn't. It has a much deeper message than it appears. It knows when to be funny and knows when to be serious. Why so many people disliked it and why critics panned it is totally beyond me!

The movie is about a man named Hal, played by Jack Black, who judges women based on their looks. He keeps failing at it and his attractive neighbor, Jill, even turns him down after he begs her to go out with him. The next day at his job, he's bummed that he didn't get that big promotion and happens to bump into Tony Robbins in the elevator while leaving his work. They get stuck in the elevator and Hal explains him his love life. Robbins then puts a spell on him to see the inner beauty in women so that he can judge a woman based on her personality. Suddenly, things starts to change for Hal. His best friend Mauricio (played by Jason Alexander) notices Hal's fresh new standards with his taste in women and doesn't like it one bit. Hal then begins dating a woman who is overweight named Rosemary, played by Gwyneth Paltrow. He sees her as a beautiful, petite woman and they hit it off. Mauricio, who is much more picky with women and more shallow than Hal, can't believe it.

That's the plot for you and I won't spoil anything, but let's just say that the story is predictable and the characters are memorable. I can't give the cast enough credit for doing such a wonderful job and it's interesting to see Jack Black like you've never seen him before, departing from his usual slacker/stoner role that he's given. Shallow Hal is a movie with a lot of brains and heart to it, as well as a great date movie. There's more to this movie than it appears, so watch it before you say negative things about it and you may be surprised!

"Shallow Hal" should be a harmless little morality play on finding inner beauty. It is, instead, a mean spirited film that seems to confirm all the things it preaches against.

Fat jokes and stereotypes abound; and may even have been funny if not so utterly far fetched. In one particularly stupid segment, the fat girl is so heavy she breaks her seat at a restaurant. Dumb, unkind and unlikely. Thirty minutes later: fat girl breaks another chair at a different restaurant.

How is Hal supposed to get beyond the unattractive fat? The fat girl herself thinks she's unattractive. Her father also says she's unattractive. At least Hal is shallow. What's Dad's excuse?

Fat people also have no manners. When offered a slice of cake, Rosemary breaks off one-third, grabs it in her bare hand, and walks off through her Dad's office. Do the Farrelly's really think this is how obese people behave? This may fly in "Dumb and Dumber", but Paltrow's character is far from dumb, she is after all educated and affluent.

To show us none of us is above being petty and judgmental, the Farrelly's use a character with crippled, withered legs which drag behind him as he walks, doubled over on his hands. The device is particularily jarring. This characters big joke comes when during a road trip fuel stop when Hal asks why he's donning rubber gloves. "Have you ever walked across a gas station restroom on with your bare hands," he replies. Makes me long for the sophistication of "American Pie."

"Shallow Hal" has it's moments of brilliance, offering a look at the world from some radically different perspectives. But those moments are too few. Sitting through this movie left me with the same feeling I get when I hear a racist joke or see someone ridiculed.

Perhaps the working title was "Hateful Hal." I can't understand why people get so uptight about sex and nudity, when something obscene as this little flick slip under the radar.

It's easy to laugh at this film, because the jokes are so broad, but it's equally easy to be offended. The issue I have with the movie is that, in the course of making the point that we should see the inner-beauty in fat people, the Farrellys are implying that by being overweight you are universally ugly. In fact, in the world of Shallow Hal, if you are fat, you are a well-meaning mammoth who couldn't possibly be fancied unless under hypnosis or after an epiphany.

The movie also seems to suggest that the friends of fat people are ugly, and that uglies keep each other's company because no one else will want to associate with them, which is another reinforcement of social divisions. All of Rosemary's (Paltrow) friends are, as we see at the end, equally fat or gross or otherwise physically undesirable. Most disturbingly, the Farrellys undermine the inner-beauty point they've spent $40 million trying to make through Hal, because Hal's friends betray the judgmental reality. When his buddies see Rosemary for what she is, i.e. grossly fat, they are universally horrified in a "what are you doing with her?" way, which carries a more powerful punch than any of the tepid attempts to suggest she's beautiful because of her personality (moulded, we are told, by years of personal abuse because of her size).

The overall message is correct - inner beauty is ultimately what counts, because a sparkling character will outlast youthful good looks by decades. But the Farrelly's have approached the subject in a way that actually insults, rather than genuinely educates. It's not going to uplift anyone who's overweight, it'll just depress them. The majority of the film perpetuates the idea that being fat or ugly makes you a pariah or the object of sympathy or vulgar fascination.

There are some sweet moments, and a few laughs, so the movie's not a wholly worthless experience. But in the process of making its (valid) point it reinforces, rather than rejects, stereotypes.

I had heard all of the critical talk about this film portraying women badly in this film months before it even came out. Generally being turned off to stereotypical plots I was very hesitant to see this movie. Of course all of my friends totally loved this movie. They thought it was sweet and charming and bashed the critics for thinking that it was demeaning to any one type of social group because they felt that since Hal chose to be with Rosemary at the end of the film that that meant that the movie itself was teaching everyone some great beautiful lesson about how you can see the beauty within. Well being a plus size girl myself (Im a size 16-and cute to boot hehe)I made myself watch this movie, and all I can say is that, I beg to differ.

To be fair I do think the Farrelly brothers were trying to send a positive message here. I don't think that their intent was to degrade anyone, but they ended up making the movie a hypocritical mess. Not only did they portray "Ugly" woman as fat with bad skin and big noses,they also portrayed "Beautiful" women as being mega-bitches with a whip. As if we women (and men) don't have enough to feel self conscious about.

I mean think about it. Jack Black, while being a very funny guy and good actor, just isn't "conventionally" Hollywood attractive. But he loved Rosemary. Which is great, however they would never think about putting let's say, Brad Pitt in as playing Hal and have him running off with an obese woman in the end. So therefore Obese women can only get someone like Jack Black to love them???

The other stereotype that irritated the crap out of me was that, not only was Rosemary obese, but she was also a glutton. As if ALL big women eat 5 course meals every time we sit at the table. Anyways, just a big peeve there.

The point is, that everyone knows that movies and Hollywood set this impossible standard on how women and men should look and everyone here admits it's wrong, yet people still feel they have to alter themselves to be something that they are not. I feel that this movie, while trying to mean well...exacerbates this concept and causes hurt feelings.

A valiant effort of the F-Bros part, but it just didn't cut the mustard with me. Sorry