This movie really disappointed me.
If you see a Farrelly Brothers movie, you expect a certain amount of crude behavior, language, and especially politically incorrectness. But Shallow Hal tries to keep some of the aforementioned qualities, while also being a sweet romantic comedy and still keeping a PG-13 rating.
Big mistake.

Jack Black is the title character, a really shallow (undeservingly so…he aint no supermodel) man who suddenly begins to see only the inner beauty of people, especially women. Jack Black’s a funny guy, and I like some of the zaniness I’ve seen from him in supporting roles, and in his Folk-metal novelty band, Tenacious D (the other member of which also appears in the movie as a coworker along with a really funny comedienne, Laura Kightlinger), but here he kinda annoyed me. Maybe it’s just me, but I just don’t see him as a leading man. But I guess people said that about Robin Williams and Jim Carrey once upon a time, and well, you know.

Jason Alexander is really, really annoying in this movie.
But that’s exactly how he was written, so I guess that’s OK.
This movie was apparently written with Gwyneth Paltrow in mind.
She’s a great actress, and here, she’s definitely the stand-out. She plays both vulnerable and witty very well, and looks pretty great doing it too.
Well, at least when seen through Jack Black’s eyes anyway…

I feel this movie didn’t know what to be.
Should it be a gross out comedy?
Should it be a romantic comedy?
Sometimes you can’t have the best of both worlds, and Shallow Hal is a perfect example.