Shallow Hal...least shallow Farrelly comedy? (1 Viewer)

[Alex Spindler]

Got back from the Shallow Hal sneak and thought I would share the experience.
This is one of those few times when I've been blindsided by a movie, and enjoyed it as well. The mmovie depicted in the trailer is a very small part of the whole. The number of slapstick/general Farelly Bros. comedy is very low (in comparison). The movie itself deals with the basic issue of the movie in a far more mature manner than I would have ever expected.
Jack Black does very well carrying his first movie. I don't really buy some of his scenes (he keeps being told that he's a great person except he's shallow, but I never got the feeling that he was that great a guy to begin with...maybe they were being nice), and the boardroom was a little much, but he does very well in most of the scenes.
Gwyneth is also a charm, displaying all the personality of her character well enough. Plus she is able to conjure some real sympathy in the final half. The fat suit effects are mostly convincing, and they did a good job overall.
What really killed me is the depth that the movie takes the concept, and the reaction the hero has when the veil is lifted. Although it ends as predictably as most other movies, the route was fresh. Not showing the hospital ward children until the end and obscuring Gwyneth's face were all interesting choices.
Although not nearly the rolling-on-the-floor comedies that Dumb and Dumber and Something about Mary were, this one had plenty to keep me and audience laughing about. The heartfelt scenes were also responded to well. I would say that this is probably their most compentently directed movie, and their most mature. I was impressed, to say the least. I'm interested in how solidly this holds up to repeated viewing.
Overall :

 

[Sam E. Torres]

true, it was impressive to finally see them tone down their movies(probably after seeing me myself and irene not doing so well), and it was surprisingly a touching movie....until the horrible ending. Spoiler:gwyneth paltrow did not look convincing at all in that fat suit. i guess maybe their goal was to make her real harsh looking so everyone would remember the true beauty(and i do mean true beauty) that the audience all saw in the previous scenes. i just didn't buy it though, they should have hired the man that did the nutty professor makeup.
but with the exception of that, i thought it was a surprisingly heartfelt movie that deserves to be the "sleeper" of the season. here's hoping that it atleast gets a better reaction than me, myself, and irene did.

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[Ron Eastman]

Wow, that's a fat suit? From the television spots I thought it was a different actress. Maybe on the big screen and in close up shots it just doesn't hold up as well.
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"The last thing I want to remembered as is an annoying blabbermouth." - Del Griffith
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[Alex Spindler]

It's really only at the end, the rest of the movie it holds up very convincingly (not sure if a body double is used for some scenes, however.
Spoiler:At the end, when you finally see her face, it holds up well in the resturant, but not at the party.
It didn't ruin it for me.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Um, there is an actress that plays the large Paltrow. They talked to her on E! the other day. At least that's how they presented her.
Maybe she was a different character, but I am almost certain she was supposed to be Paltrow's character in the film. She was talking about the limited roles for fat women in H'wood.

 

[Alex Spindler]

I did think those profile shots were a little too lifelike.

 

[Brad_W]

I saw Entertainment Tonight that interviewed the girl who played the "fat girl" in this movie. She is a big advocate on the treatment of "large" people in movies. I thought that was odd, since it looked like she played a fat girl that people made fun of in the movie. I thought that sorta defeated her purpose, except of course, for the fact that "Hal" or whatever sees her inner beauty. She is going to play Momma Cass in a film about the Mommas and the Poppas (obviously). That was no suit that GP was wearing. Oh and the larger lady's mom was crying when she talked about the way people looked at her daughter.
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[Alex Spindler]

It's a shame she feels that way, because Shallow Hal makes some real strides for her purpose. It's just a candy coated pill.