After being kicked out of his rock band, Dewey Finn becomes a substitute teacher of an uptight elementary private school, only to try and turn his class into a rock band.
A young couple has a chance to move into a gorgeous duplex in the perfect New York neighborhood. All they have to do is bump off the current tenant, a cute little old lady.
Henry Roth is a man afraid of commitment up until he meets the beautiful Lucy. They hit it off and Henry think he's finally found the girl of his dreams, until he discovers she has short-term memory loss and forgets him the next day.
Director:
Peter Segal
Stars:
Adam Sandler,
Drew Barrymore,
Rob Schneider
Following the advice of his dying father, Hal dates only women who are physically beautiful. One day, however, he runs into self-help guru Tony Robbins, who hypnotizes him into recognizing only the inner beauty of women. Hal thereafter meets Rosemary, a largely obese woman whom only he can see as a vision of loveliness. But will their relationship survive when Hal's equally shallow friend undoes the hypnosis?Written by
Anonymous
When Hal is talking to the hostess right before Mauricio "heals" him, the movements of the hostess' "ugly" reflection in the mirror do not match the "pretty" hostess' movements. See more »
Quotes
Mauricio:
Uh Hal, it's 10:00, we gotta go.
Hal:
[laughing]
What are you talking about?
Mauricio:
We gotta go do that thing, you know at the place.
Hal:
What thing?
Mauricio:
Sorry ladies, I gotta steal your dance partner here.
[Mauricio grabs Hal away from the three unattractive women on the dance floor]
Hal:
What are you doing?
Mauricio:
I am rescuing you.
Hal:
From what?
Mauricio:
From what? From a pack of stampeding buffalo, that's what!
See more »
Crazy Credits
At the end of the TV version, after the Seabrook tribute, the character Walt is shown skiing and then what appears to be an unused scene of the 'thin' Rosemary dragging a collapsed horse in front of bemused cowhands. See more »
A frustrating film in a way. I was hugely disappointed in it for a long while, but as the film progressed I kept wondering if my disappointment was merely a product of my unfair expectations. That's probably the case. I expect a daring comedy from the Brothers Farrelly, but Shallow Hal is surprisingly low-key. It doesn't go for easy laughs, as it easily could have done. The plot concerns a looks-obsessed guy (Jack Black) who is hypnotized into seeing the inner beauty of others. He falls in love with a fat woman who appears to him as Gwyneth Paltrow. When the film came out, a lot of people complained that this was terrible; he only loves her because he is attracted to Gwyneth Paltrow, not the fat incarnation that appears in only a couple of shots in the first 90 minutes of the film. But these people didn't really stick around for the payoff in the third act. What's so surprising about this film is how emotionally involving it is. A lot of this is due to Gwyneth Paltrow, who actually gives one of her best performances. But fans of the Farrelly Brothers, as I am myself, will not be shocked to find that emotional center. It was there in both Kingpin and There's Something About Mary. It's just as fun when the Brothers are mean-spirited, however, as they were in Me, Myself, & Irene and, even better, the unfairly maligned Dumb and Dumber. The serious themes are really on full display here, though. The Brothers have a true and touching affection for physical outsiders. I still wish that they wouldn't have forsaken comedy so much, though. I suppose the only jokes would have been fat jokes, but maybe not. Jason Alexander provides almost all of the good laughs. We wonder why he and Jack Black are so mean about the looks of others when they aren't especially gorgeous themselves. Some people are still asking how such a man as Jason Alexander can be so shallow in this film, but they, as I've said before, didn't stick around until the end. This film may improve on repeat viewings, as it was bothering me for a long while. 7/10.
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A frustrating film in a way. I was hugely disappointed in it for a long while, but as the film progressed I kept wondering if my disappointment was merely a product of my unfair expectations. That's probably the case. I expect a daring comedy from the Brothers Farrelly, but Shallow Hal is surprisingly low-key. It doesn't go for easy laughs, as it easily could have done. The plot concerns a looks-obsessed guy (Jack Black) who is hypnotized into seeing the inner beauty of others. He falls in love with a fat woman who appears to him as Gwyneth Paltrow. When the film came out, a lot of people complained that this was terrible; he only loves her because he is attracted to Gwyneth Paltrow, not the fat incarnation that appears in only a couple of shots in the first 90 minutes of the film. But these people didn't really stick around for the payoff in the third act. What's so surprising about this film is how emotionally involving it is. A lot of this is due to Gwyneth Paltrow, who actually gives one of her best performances. But fans of the Farrelly Brothers, as I am myself, will not be shocked to find that emotional center. It was there in both Kingpin and There's Something About Mary. It's just as fun when the Brothers are mean-spirited, however, as they were in Me, Myself, & Irene and, even better, the unfairly maligned Dumb and Dumber. The serious themes are really on full display here, though. The Brothers have a true and touching affection for physical outsiders. I still wish that they wouldn't have forsaken comedy so much, though. I suppose the only jokes would have been fat jokes, but maybe not. Jason Alexander provides almost all of the good laughs. We wonder why he and Jack Black are so mean about the looks of others when they aren't especially gorgeous themselves. Some people are still asking how such a man as Jason Alexander can be so shallow in this film, but they, as I've said before, didn't stick around until the end. This film may improve on repeat viewings, as it was bothering me for a long while. 7/10.