| 100 |
Portland Oregonian
Kim Morgan
Unafraid of walking the fine line between the repellent and the human, Shallow Hal is wickedly funny but heartfelt.
|
| 80 |
The New York Times
Dana Stevens
The most shocking thing about it may be its unabashed sincerity.
|
| 80 |
Slate
David Edelstein
The Farrellys have set themselves the awesome task of arguing passionately for the non-importance of appearance while at the same time making relentless sport of it. The happy news is that they pull it off: In Shallow Hal, they've contrived a deeply humanist gross-out comedy.
|
| 80 |
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
May be the best Farrellys movie yet, even though it doesn't live up to the pair's usual level of uproarious, crass comic genius. They're learning, movie by movie, to articulate ideas that are more and more sophisticated, without being oppressively heavy-handed.
|
| 75 |
San Francisco Chronicle
Bob Graham
The belly laughs finally start to come --legitimately.
|
| 75 |
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
Paltrow is truly touching. And Black, in his first big-time starring role, struts through with the blissful confidence of a man who knows he was born for stardom.
|
| 75 |
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
You can't help cheering on Shallow Hal. That and the fact that it's not at all politically correct. It's something better. It's big-hearted, and it's funny.
|
| 70 |
Chicago Reader
Lisa Alspector
[Farrellys'] great achievement is forcing those of us addicted to eye candy to see we have a problem.
|
| 70 |
LA Weekly
Ella Taylor
Shallow Hal is "Shrek" for grown-ups, a fairy tale right down to its reverse-Cinderella plot.
|
| 67 |
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Something is happening to our boys: They're getting mushy. Shallow Hal is not so much about how gross people are as how beautiful they are once you get beyond the rude, noisy flesh. It's a sermon wrapped in a fat suit.
|
| 63 |
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
The laughs are there, but the movie's main asset is Paltrow, mournful and always braced for the worst.
|
| 63 |
USA Today
Mike Clark
The movie is shrewd by giving the bulk of its piggish dialogue to Alexander, an actor incapable of projecting genuine cruelty on screen.
|
| 63 |
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
Who else in Hollywood would've met a non-actor with spina bifida (Rene Kirby), created a role for him, then shot him dancing and skiing on his hands to show how easily he fit into society?
|
| 63 |
Chicago Tribune
Mark Caro
So intent on driving home its worthy if not mind-blowing message that it becomes surprisingly conventional.
|
| 60 |
Film Threat
Michael Dequina
The surprisingly sweet Shallow Hal finds Peter and Bobby retreating to a gentler mode -- and, in the process, a far less funny one.
|
| 50 |
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Most of the time we see her through Hal's idealizing eyes, though -- no surprise, since Hollywood won't let glittery stars like Paltrow play down their sex appeal for long.
|
| 50 |
Village Voice
J. Hoberman
Not only light on laughs but discomfitingly didactic in its disgust.
|
| 50 |
New York Magazine
Peter Rainer
Some good gross-out inventiveness, but too heartfelt by half. Do we really need the Farrellys to champion inner beauty?
|
| 50 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Axmaker
Shallow Hal begs for the Farrellys to unleash their arsenal of offensiveness, but they want to be liked so much they appear afraid to offend. The result is safe, well-meaning and dull.
|
| 50 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
Suffers from "Bridget Jones" Syndrome but without that movie's charms.
|
| 50 |
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
Black, who all but stole "High Fidelity," is disappointingly bland and one-note in his first starring role.
|
| 50 |
Miami Herald
Christy Lemire
Who would have thought one of the best things about the new Farrelly brothers' movie is a cameo by Tony Robbins?
|
| 50 |
New Times (L.A.)
Luke Y. Thompson
Fortunately for the brothers, when your protagonist is personified as Jack Black, you can get away with a lot.
|
| 40 |
TV Guide
Steve Simels
Something of a cop-out, lacking the courage of its convictions.
|
| 40 |
Variety
Todd McCarthy
Could use a little extra comic poundage. The Farrelly brothers' latest sees the team tapping a sweeter, milder vein of humor than their outrageous norm.
|
| 38 |
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
A one-joke movie. What makes it misfire is that its one joke clashes with its one idea.
|
| 30 |
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
When a human joke like Tony Robbins is the only one who comes away from your movie smelling like a rose, there's a real problem in Farrellyland.
|
| 30 |
Time
Richard Corliss
We [Farrellys'] mock, they say, because we care. But that doesn't make the film elevating or amusing.
|
| 30 |
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
For the first time, the Farrellys seem to be embarrassed by their own crudeness. For the first time, they should be.
|
| 30 |
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
Lacks even a vestige of subtlety and is rarely so much as amusing. Viewers with fond memories of the brothers' wildly funny "There's Something About Mary" will be astonished at how few laughs the current venture has.
|
| 20 |
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Shallow Hal makes the case for restricting the Farrellys to mere gross-out movies.
|
| 20 |
Washington Post
Rita Kempley
Nothing could save this movie. These guys make a fortune off the comedy of cruelty. How dare they climb on a soapbox?
|
| 10 |
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
What they've done here goes beyond gross -- or clumsy, or dumb -- to genuine ugliness, both cutaneous and sub.
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