A shallow man falls in love with a 300 pound woman because of her "inner beauty". Despite being a comedy 'Shallow Hal' does in fact have some interesting messages to tell about love and how someone's heart is what matters instead of their face and their body, Jack Black is great as he always is in most of the films i have seen him in and Gwyneth Paltrow despite her dumb confension about her role she does a gret job as well. Overall a great mix of comedic and dramatic elements alongside a talented cast of actors. (A+)

I'm surprised that this movie has such a low rating, since I did find it to be genuinely charming and funny, much better an most modern romantic comedies. As a matter of fact, this movie was almost great, and it could have reached that level if only a few little tweaks and changes were made. Personally, I thought that the ending was an absolute bummer. It was overly sweet when it could have ended on a slightly darker note, which was the path that I felt the film was taking. Now I am not saying that this movies ending could not have been sweet, but it was so sickeningly cliché and obnoxiously over the top unrealistically happy that it disappointed me. A good example of a film ending that is both sweet and slightly tragic would be the ending of "Chasing Amy", another romantic comedy drama.Other flaws have to do with various jokes not really working and the plot of the movie being restated over and over again by characters to an annoying degree.However, the overall movie is surprisingly good and somewhat underrated. It is very funny, and juggles mocking and feeling sympathy for its characters really, really well. And I enjoyed the fact that the humor was not afraid to get super dark at times. The entire opening sequence is classic dark comedy!There is also quite a bit of heart and soul to this movie. Believe it or not, it actually,are me tear up a little at one point, very unexpected for this type of movie! I was impressed with the emotional conflicts and they had me really engaged and moved, but then all of that was screwed up by the ending!This is a movie that I would recommend, but with mild caution since the ending does largely ruin the experience, at least it did for me, anyway.

At the age of 9, Hal Larson gets superficial advise from his delirious dying preacher father. He tells him to judge woman by their looks and forget about love. Hal (Jack Black) turns into a shallow man almost as bad as his friend Mauricio Wilson (Jason Alexander). His neighbor Jill (Susan Ward) dumps him. He gets stuck in an elevator with motivational guru Tony Robbins who hypnotizes him into seeing inner beauty as outer beauty. He starts dating overweight Rosemary (Gwyneth Paltrow) but he can only see her inner beauty.For a movie making fun of shallow behavior, it's actually pretty shallow itself. All the beautiful people are ugly inside. It's difficult to see Hal or Wilson ever getting a date. All the fat jokes essentially clash with the theme of judging people by their inner self. Even if a joke hits, I wonder about who the joke is making fun of. I am willing to give the Farrelly brothers credit for trying to tackle something substantial. There is a touching rom-com buried beneath everything. They do it in such a loopy way that I don't think it actually works. Although the little girl really hits me in the heart.

Hal Larsen (Jack Black) only ever dates beautiful trophy women on account of advice he received on his death bed from his father. However, a chance meeting with a self-help guru helps him to see inner beauty first and foremost. Soon after, he falls in love with his boss' severely overweight daughter, which as it raises eyebrows everywhere the couple go, Hal is oblivious as to what everyone else is on about.Tender, sweet and subtle are not words one readily attributes to the Farrelly Brothers, but in Shallow Hal they have managed to blend all three with their penchant for close to the knuckle humour.Gwyneth Paltrow in the dual role dons the fat-suit and once again showcases her unheralded comic timing, while Jack Black proves ebullient and engaging in a role that calls for him to shut out what he is actually meant to be seeing. In support Jason Alexander gets the weasel best friend comedy sidekick role, and is wonderfully abhorrent and good at keeping the cards close to his chest.It's never uproariously funny, but it doesn't need to be, it tickles where it needs to, and it prods the emotional psyche with requisite impact. In a world that has become obsessed with the girth and weight of a person, especially with women - and as it happens is led by Hollywood, Shallow Hal is refreshing entertainment. 7/10