Amor ciego

Paltrow's pretty good here, I enjoyed this movie a lot. Not great but certainly good, carries a nice message and it's a good premise.

However, a lot of people did get offended by this. The movie kind of does that to itself-though the theme here is "everybodys' beautiful" etc etc and meant to look at how much women are judged by their looks, the movie wasn't as bold as it could have been. If it REALLY wanted to take hold of this issue there would have been more of the "heavy paltrow" not just a few quick shots. Shows the thin paltrow a lot more and it shouldn't. Does anyone get the feeling the movie was almost afraid of it's own subject matter? That's what takes the "oomph" out of the movie and makes it a sweet little picture rather then an outstanding film. Still, it's OK-I know many people, both heavy and thin who saw this, most were not offended by the picture but had the movie aimed for serious movie making instead of predictable Hollywood fare(the former would have been more appropriate for the subject matter at hand) the movie would have been a lot better.

"Shallow Hal" was a film that was meant to be both thought-provoking and entertaining when it was originally released in 2001. The romantic comedy, which was directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly and starred Gwyneth Paltrow and Jack Black, is said to have a deeper message about looking inside rather than outward. Furthermore, even though the film has good intentions and does a great job of spreading certain important lessons, its true morals will inevitably fall short at points.

A self-help guru makes Jack Black's character Hal see only people's inner beauty, and this is the central theme of the story. Hal is captivated by Gwyneth Paltrow's Rosemary, despite her striking physical dissimilarity from Hal's previous experiences. Despite Rosemary's actual physical appearance being far from the ideal standard of beauty, Hal views Rosemary as a stunningly lovely woman, thanks to his newfound perspective. Though it also has some dubious and problematic aspects, the movie presents an intriguing scenario in which inner beauty is contrasted with superficial values.

As a girl who has once experienced and struggled with issues of self-identity and bodily self-worth, I see that "Shallow Hal" gives an important message that we should see and appreciate the inner side of people rather than judging them by their outer appearance. This is a valuable lesson that is particularly relevant in today's society, where we are often fed unrealistic ideals of beauty. The film succeeds in many ways in highlighting the importance of re-evaluating our prejudices and appreciating people for who they really are.

But even with such noble intentions, the film's moral isn't always clear. A few of the scenarios and jokes use cheap humor that could come across as condescending to those who have various body types. Even though Hal's character has an epiphany when he discovers the value of inner beauty, there are moments in the movie when it seems as though the physical attributes of those who don't conform to the conventional beauty standard are mocked. This feature may easily create the idea that when outward beauty remains the standard, inner beauty is of less value.

It's also important to note that the film never fully tackles the emotions of inadequacy and self-criticism that frequently accompany not meeting conventional standards of beauty. People with diverse bodily types often experience issues and insecurities that cannot always be resolved by looking at their insides. While "Shallow Hal" is entertaining, it doesn't often offer a deep enough understanding of the more intricate emotional and psychological aspects of physical self-worth.

In summary, "Shallow Hal" is a film with heart and noble aspirations, although it occasionally tends to address complicated problems pertaining to body and beauty in a superficial manner. Even though the movie aims to help us see past people's outward appearances, it's critical that we acknowledge and address the underlying issues that result from being assessed solely on appearance. While the film's heart is in the right place, there is room for growth in terms of how it is executed to really comprehend and appreciate the diversity of body shapes and self-identity.

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)

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.

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