Amor ciego

No contest, I will say this marks the best of the Farrelly Brothers. Not because this film is laugh-out-loud funny--it's funny, but not hilarious--but because it has a great heart and delivers a beautiful message without any corny Hollywood pretentions. Sure, the premise is funny--a shallow guy gets virtually hypnotized into thinking all the unattractive women he sees are foxes and ends up going out with a 500-pound woman who he also thinks is a fox. It's a great premise, but the Farrellys don't fixate on that premise alone, preventing it from turning it into a lame, one-joke slapstick comedy. This is a comedy with heart--a rare finding. In between laughs, you really get wrapped up in the characters and storyline. The gags flow quite naturally, without the Farrellys forcing any humor onto the screen. If a comic opportunity comes along, they take advantage, but there's no random acts of slapstick.

I am pleasantly surprised with Jack Black, who has proved in this movie that he doesn't only have what it takes as a comic actor, but also as a serious actor and a romantic lead. I've always enjoyed seeing him on screen, but he usually plays the same wound-up, hyperkinetic characters. Basically, he's funny, but you still know you're watching Jack Black on screen. This time he exercises his ability as a method actor, he succeeds well. Gwyneth Paltrow is adorable and sweet, capturing the audience's sympathy with her winning smile. Joe Viterelli is amusing as her overweight Irish father, and actually pulls off a fairly convincing Irish accent. The sizzling hot Brooke Burns makes a few appearances. And Jason Alexander is always a joy to watch.

I think "Shallow Hal" does the best job at conveying the message that beauty is on the inside. It has been conveyed before in films like "The Nutty Professor," but I feel this film conveyed it best. This could've easily been a 105-minute fat joke, but it doesn't travel that route. There are no crude or mean-spirited gags. Could it be that the Farrelly Brothers matured? Even of the films of theirs that I liked (ex.: "Dumb and Dumber," "There's Something About Mary") are a little uneven and contain a few gags that are just plain cruel. Like in "Mary," Cameron Diaz's brother is mentally ill and the butt of a few jokes. Here, we have a character that walks on both his arms and legs, but he's portrayed as a normal character, and not as a gimmick for some cheap laughs. There are moments that really tugged at my heartstrings. The "burn victim" scene brought quite a few tears to my eyes. The story is solid, with no boring lulls. And the soundtrack is pretty good--I have criticized the Farrellys in the past for using crappy music in their sountracks.

If you're looking for a good romantic/date movie with some good laughs and a good message, "Shallow Hal" will be an absolute delight.

My score: 8 (out of 10)

Don't be confused by the subject matter of this comedy, this is a very touching movie.

A Shallow man (Jack Black) is obsessed with only dating beautiful women, until he is hypnotised in to only seeing the inner beauty of people he meets. He then meets Rosemarie (Gwyneth Paltrow) and falls in love

This was Jack Blacks first lead role. After roles in 'Cable Guy' and 'Enemy Of The State' and a very good supporting role in 'High Fidelity and he is perfectly cast as the title character. Until 'School Of Rock' two years later, this was his best performance. Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow seems to be having fun, and she looks great in a thong. However for me I would have preferred to see her in the fat suit more, to highlight what everyone else was seeing.... But I suppose you don't pay millions to have Gwyneth Paltrow in a movie, and have her hide in a fat suit for the majority of the movie.

Jason Alexender is very annoying (as Blacks bitter best friend, who is annoyed at losing his wing man on nights out) and distracting with his bizarre hairline.

It's silly if course (it's a Farrelly brothers movie) but it's also very very sweet!!

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

My problem with this movie is that the two male leads are so spectacularly unattractive. The whole message is that we shouldn't judge people by their appearances, fat people are good, etc. etc. blah blah blah. Okay, fine, whatever.

But this only seems to apply to the womenfolk. Jack Black is short and pudgy with bulldog features, and Jason Alexander looks like something that's been boiled and painted. Why is their lack of attractiveness never part of the plot? Good Lord, they roam around the movie looking for babes as if they were a couple of Adonises. Both of these distinctly not good-looking guys get pursued by attractive women, and what's more, the squat four-eyes actually turns down his dolly on the grounds that she's got a long toe. (All this is later justified by his inner hurt feeling...awwwww!!)

Another sign that the movie was put together by a couple of cases of arrested development: Rosemary never stops talking about her low self-esteem, can't handle compliments, etc. yet in every second scene she's wearing something short and tight. This way Gwyneth Paltrow gets to prance around in her skimpies, and yet then we're supposed to get a big yuk-yuk when her fat body double is shown falling out of the same outfit.

I would love to see a female director redo this movie using a couple of ugly women as the leads, and then have attractive men pursue them, just as they are. Wait, I guess no one would buy that.

And one final thing: just because Rosemary was fat, they didn't have to show her constantly stuffing her face. It got to the point where she's grabbing half a cake at a time. That was just pointless and mean, and it was way beyond even a juvenile chuckle.

This movie would never be allowed to release in today's world, but it was a hit when it came out in 2001, and it's because it really is a funny, sweet movie. What could be a crude and offensive movie is thoughtful and even deep at moments while being laugh-out-loud hilarious. Jack Black plays the same lovable goofball as always, except this time, his character struggles with only caring about a person's appearance and his particular expectations on how they should look. But as the movie progresses, Hal grows and matures, discovering the beauty in everyone, both inside and out. Shallow Hal ultimately shares a meaningful message while also pouring on the laughs and poking fun at every character in the film. So don't balk at the premise of the movie. Instead, give it a shot, and you might just enjoy it.