Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
After taking his dying father's advice, Hal dates only the embodiments of female physical perfection. But that all changes after Hal has an unexpected run-in with self-help guru Tony Robbins. Intrigued by Hal's shallowness, Robbins hypnotizes him into seeing the beauty that exists even in the least physically appealing women. Hal soon falls for Rosemary, but he doesn't realize that his gorgeous girlfriend is actually a 300-pound-not-so-hottie.
Shallow Hal has a mildly interesting premise about inner beauty via hypnosis, but the execution is muddled and often contradicts its own message by relying heavily on fat jokes and physical comedy that undercuts the earnest moral it's reaching for. The Farrelly brothers' direction is competent but unremarkable cinematographically, with no distinctive visual identity. Acting from Jack Black brings energy but the script doesn't give him or Gwyneth Paltrow (playing dual versions of Rosemary) enough to work with meaningfully. The concept of using Tony Robbins as a plot device feels gimmicky rather than genuinely inventive, and the premise itself is a fairly conventional romantic comedy with a fantasy twist. The ending resolves predictably and somewhat unsatisfyingly, raising more questions about the film's actual stance on beauty standards than it answers.