Comedy's sole purpose is to make us laugh, right? Make us think? Sure, if that's what it's going for. Make us care for characters? Why not, if it can effectively pull it off. But it's gotta make us laugh above all else. Make us relax, smile, and forget our troubles and inadequacies for a while. Right?

Right?

The Farrely Brothers are much more ambitious. They want to challenge our perceptions and rip apart society's hazy ideals. But they also want to make us laugh. Hard. To do both things at once requires skill, compassion, and a compromise of sorts. To do comedy with the power to undermine our core beliefs...well, relaxation has to be sacrificed.

Throughout Shallow Hal, the theater is filled with this jittery tension. We're laughing at a fat person. We're laughing at ugly women with large noses and bad skin. We're even laughing at birth defects. My God, we're laughing at a man with a severe disfiguring disorder! And the actor playing the role actually has the disease!!!

The movie is about a man who due to a tramatic experience during his youth is now unbelievably shallow. If a woman doesn't look like a covergirl when he first sees her, then he's not interested.

But simply trap said man in an elevator with a self-help guru who puts some sort of bizarre spell on him and...well...

Now Hal is walking around seeing pretty,mean girls look like Estelle Getty on heroin, and seeing fat but sweet RoseMary as Gweneth Paltrow.

I won't give much more details here. In many ways, the plot follows a predictable course. But it is still filled with hilarious slapstick, sharp dialogue and heartbreaking sweetness. Together, the movie tickles us as much as it causes us all to uncomfortably shift in our seats.

Here's a love story between a leading man such as Jack Black, chubby but reasonably attractive, and Gwenyth Paltrow in a fat suit (Yes, that is her in each of those eye-popping shots). Should we be laughing? What does it mean if we do? AND...why should we find a fat woman in a major motion picture so unusual?

Shallow Hal is not a perfect film. Some jokes fall flat and there are a couple of characters that are just flatout pointless. (Why is Rosemary's father Irish? Was there a scene cut out?) But it is still a wonderful film and more important, it is revolutionary. Shallow Hal makes you laugh and makes you think, TRULY think, and your brain is confused at the prospect. So the laughter isn't always pure. But the compassion, the intelligence, the provocation, and the care are all so straight up you just may get a buzz from it.

Recommended:
Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12