Film Reviews

Shallow Hal

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow
• Details: US / 114 mins / (15PG).

As the title indicates, Hal (Black) is a rather superficial individual. Having taken his dying father's advice of only having sex with beautiful women to heart, Hal wanders through life attempting to have relationships with as many babes as he can. An encounter with self-help guru Tony Robbins (who plays himself, quite badly as it happens) completely alters Hal's perspective on the female physical form. Now Hal sees good-hearted women as babes, and the fickle ones as hideously ugly. Which is about where Rosemary (Paltrow) - a very obese lady - comes in.. While the premise might hint otherwise, the Farrelly brothers keep a fairly tight reign (for them, anyway) on the gross out humour that characterised earlier offerings. Whether this is a good thing is entirely up to your personal tastes, but Shallow Hal is, for the most part, a good-natured celebration of the diversity of the human physical form. Paltrow is good in her dual roles, but Black, likeable as he is, lacks the presence required for a leading man. Watchable if very forgettable.

Review by Garreth Murphy