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Shallow Hal
20th Century Fox Film Corporation


5.3

based on 33 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 36 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for language and sexual content

Starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Jack Black, Jason Alexander, and Anthony Robbins

Hal Larsen is the ultimate shallow guy. He finds beauty only in supermodels and centerfolds. But after an impromptu hypnosis by self-help guru Tony Robbins, Hal's view of women makes a 180-degree turn; he now sees their true inner beauty. (Twentieth Century Fox)

GENRE(S):	Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Sean Moynihan Peter Farrelly Bobby Farrelly
DIRECTED BY:	Bobby Farrelly Peter Farrelly
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: July 2, 2002 Video: July 2, 2002 Theatrical: November 9, 2001
RUNNING TIME:	114 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

Unafraid of walking the fine line between the repellent and the human, Shallow Hal is wickedly funny but heartfelt.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

The most shocking thing about it may be its unabashed sincerity.

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.

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.

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

The belly laughs finally start to come --legitimately.

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.

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.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

[Farrellys'] great achievement is forcing those of us addicted to eye candy to see we have a problem.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Shallow Hal is "Shrek" for grown-ups, a fairy tale right down to its reverse-Cinderella plot.

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.

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.

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.

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?

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

So intent on driving home its worthy if not mind-blowing message that it becomes surprisingly conventional.

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.

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.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Not only light on laughs but discomfitingly didactic in its disgust.

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?

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.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Suffers from "Bridget Jones" Syndrome but without that movie's charms.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Black, who all but stole "High Fidelity," is disappointingly bland and one-note in his first starring role.

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?

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.

TV Guide Steve Simels

Something of a cop-out, lacking the courage of its convictions.

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.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

A one-joke movie. What makes it misfire is that its one joke clashes with its one idea.

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.

Time Richard Corliss

We [Farrellys'] mock, they say, because we care. But that doesn't make the film elevating or amusing.

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.

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.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Shallow Hal makes the case for restricting the Farrellys to mere gross-out movies.

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?

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

What they've done here goes beyond gross -- or clumsy, or dumb -- to genuine ugliness, both cutaneous and sub.

The average user rating for this movie is 5.3 (out of 10) based on 36 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Gabor A. gave it a6:
Holds it together for an even shorter amount of time than most Hollywood comedies, but the first hour or so is genuinely funny.

Rashid gave it a9:
If I want to rate only its comic level i will give 4 but the idea behind that comic make me rate this 9. PPL are their personalities not their bodies.

Jeremy W. gave it a7:
Jack Black was great. This was a fun comedy that made you think. Our society does place too much emphasis on the surface. Hoorah to a film that dares to challenge the Hollywood glamour.

Jesse M. gave it a1:
It wasn't funny at all.

Matt M. gave it a7:
Jack Black entertaining as ever, Gyneth excellent also. The film definatly does'nt suffer from political correctness but does make the point very well that people don't often get sufficent chance to flourish.

Dave C. gave it a 3:
Not one moment of subtlety or inventiveness in any of the humor on display. Dumb & Dumber worked because of how utterly daring it was and how it was willing to make some of the most outrageous gags while There's Something About Mary struck a chord because of its genuine charm and hilarious comic set pieces. Shallow Hal has none of that because the script is braindead and the plot is routine and predictable. Furhtermore, the film is very poorly shot and lit. I'm not kidding you, it's an ugly film with no "beautiful personality on the inside".

Erwin K. gave it an 8:
Really really funny. It's a farrelly film so don't try and read too much politics into it. There is none. Just enjoy it.

Shallow Hal 20th Century Fox Film Corporation

Shallow Hal
20th Century Fox Film Corporation