'Shallow' comedy
by Jess Hanebury / contributing writer
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Title: "Shallow Hal"
Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow and Jack Black
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 114 minutes
Rating: 3/5
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With popular comedian Jack Black in the lead role, "Shallow
Hal" seems destined for success, but a predictable plot and
a scarcity of funny jokes proves a movie's fate is never sealed.
Directed by the infamous Farrelly brothers, "Shallow Hal"
is the latest project from the duo that brought "There's
Something About Mary" and "Me, Myself and Irene"
to the screen. Black plays Hal, a bachelor with impossible standards
who is constantly after the hottest female catch.
Things change when Hal is "de-hypnotized" so that he
only sees everyone's inner beauty rather than their physical
appearance. Hal meets love interest Rosemary, played by Gwenyth
Paltrow, who weighs over 300 pounds. However, under the inner beauty
spell, Hal sees her as remarkably beautiful and thin. The confusion
between what Hal sees and what others see, including Rosemary herself
and Hal's crony Mauricio, played by Jason Alexander, sets the
stage for the movie.
Although Black and Alexander have a few great lines, they were
few and far between. A majority of the film's jokes seem confusing
because they are either not delivered well or are simply not funny.
Uncomfortable scenes in which Hal finds out the true physical appearance
of a child make for a silent crowd.
The movie's predictability takes away from the overall experience.
Black fans fond of his blunt side-kick humor in his previous hits
will be disappointed to see his politically correct performance
in "Shallow Hal." A lack of twists or turns from Black,
Paltrow and Alexander's characters leave nothing but the plot
one has seen before in the previews.
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