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Dan Owen reviews
Columbia TriStar
- Cert: PG-13
- Running time: 113 minutes
- Year: 2001
- Pressing: 2002
- Region(s): 1, NTSC
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English, French
- Subtitles: English
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: $21.95
- Extras: Audio Commentary, Deleted Scenes, HBO “Making Of” Special,Comedy Central featurette, Music Video, Make Up Featurette, Stunts Featurette,Trailer
Directors:
- Peter Farrelly & Bobby Farrelly
Screenplay:
- Sean Moynihan, Peter Farrelly & Bobby Farrelly
Cast:
- Hal Larson: Jack Black
Rosemary Shanahan: Gwyneth Paltrow
Mauricio Wilson: Jason Alexander
Steve Shanahan: Joe Viterelli
Walt: Rene Kirby
Jill: Susan Ward
Katrina: Brooke Burns
After the big disappointmentof the Farrelly Brothers’ last venture,Me, Myself & Irene,they return with the slightly more satisfyingShallow Hal. Unlike its immediate predecessor, Shallow Hal is a farmore mellow film, almost ambling along a fairly predictable path with asmattering of bad taste humour. In many ways it represents a more matureouting for the Farrelly’s – who paved the way for 90’s bad taste comedywith their 1994 hit Dumb & Dumber.
Jack Black (the chubby scene-stealer from High Fidelity) plays Hal; anormal, polite, hardworking guy… with just one character flaw – he’sextremely shallow about his taste in women. However, after a chancemeeting with a self-help guru in a broken elevator, Hal is “brainwashed”into only seeing the inner beauty of people. From that day on, Halbegins perceiving even the most ugly people as drop dead gorgeoussupermodels, and unlikeable beauties as grotesque freaks. Then he meetsRosemary – an overweight behemoth in the shapely form of GwynethPaltrow…
It’s a simple concept, dripping with comic potential. Sadly, ShallowHal never manages to soar with its high-concept idea, sticking insteadto obvious sight gags and crass jokes regardling physical appearances.There are a few neat flourishes to be found here and there (mostlyregarding the revelation of various peoples true appearances throughoutthe film), but overall the jokes are fairly mundane or painfullyobvious.
Jack Black makes a strong impression as Hal, obviously gifted with akeen sense of comic timing, but also exhibiting strong acting potential.Black pushes the film along whenever the gags become tired, or starved,and saves the film in many areas. In a film that’s supposedly a comedyromance between two people, Black is on centre stage far more often thanco-star Gwyneth Paltrow, and makes full use of his screentime.
Gywneth Paltrow is sadly lumbered with a generally uninteresting rolethat’s merely a stereotype of overweight women. She brings a sweetsincerity and humanity to the weakly-written part, and has rarely shoneso beautifully in a movie, but it’s a 2-dimensional character farbeneath her abilities. I was hopeful Paltrow could have provided moremeat when, in the latter third of the movie, she is more often viewed asthe “real” Rosemary (engulfed in a marvellous fat-suit) – but Paltrowfails to project her character through the layers of fake flab.
Jason Alexander provides excellent support as Maurice, the best friendof Hal with serious hang-ups over women’s appearances. He gets some ofthe best comeback lines, and spars well with Black… but this is hardlya stretch for him, as he’s merely regurgitating his “Seinfeld” role forfilm audiences.
The screenplay exhibits the charm and punchiness of earlier Farrellyscripts, although it’s almost ‘Farrelly-lite’ in many areas. The badtaste angle often seems shoehorned in to give fans what they expect froma Farrelly film (a character cursed with spinobyfida is mostlysuperflous to anything in the film, for instance). There are also farless standout sequences than prior Farelly films – with the best momentsgiven away in the trailer, and the others mildly amusing but verypredictable given the concept.
What is most appealing about Shallow Hal is the warmth it genuinelyshows regarding Hal’s viewpoint on women – particularly towards the end.A key facet to the Farrelly’s work has always been their wonderfulability to poke fun at people in a very politically incorrect manner,but with plenty of genuine warmth and lack of maliciousness. This is atradition they continue with Shallow Hal in most respects -particularly when Hal visits children who have been victims of horrificburns.
The Farrelly Brothers again direct a movie with little flare oringenuity, merely choosing to film scenes in the style of a televisioncomedy. It would be nice if they began to exhibit some skill andoriginality behind the camera (it has been almost 10 years since theirfirst film!) As it is, their direction gets the job done on a basiclevel of “film the actors performances”, interspersed with theirpenchant for loud contemporary musical punctuations.
Overall then, Shallow Hal is an enjoyable enough movie, but lacks theedge of earlier Farrelly fare, and is sadly lacking in memorablemoments. The cast are merely adequate, with the exception of rising starJack Black, but the real problem with the film is the lack of consistentlaughs and a screenplay that tends to wander into dead-ends or, worse,just fails to capture the comic potential of its central theme.
Shallow Hal bounces onto Region 1 DVD in an Amaray case containingjust one disc, thankfully packed with a nice selection of extrafeatures. The animated menus are easy to navigate, although they committhe heinous offence of giving away snippets from the movie. The bulk ofthe discs’ menus are still images and moderately animated pictures withsnatches of dialogue from the movie – which load quickly and exude abouncy charm.
Picture quality is very good; with the 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreentransfer relatively practically fautless. I detected a few ‘waves’pulsing across the image in places, but there was no sign of grain andcolours were vibrant and sparky.
Sound quality was good, with the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix generally rootingthe dialogue in the centre speaker, with a moderation of sound effectsfrom the rear speakers. This isn’t exactly a demo disc to show off yoursurround sound setup, but the occassional musical outbursts theFarrelly’s love so much are enjoyably loud and quite immersive.
Thankfully, the Extra Features on the disc are also a worthy addition tothe R1 release. First we have a ‘Director’s Commentary Track’ from theFarrelly Brothers (Peter and Bobby). The pair give their unique insightinto the making of the film. Sadly the Brothers’ commentary is quitelacking in any kind of deep insight into anything much, ther thanpointing out background details.
There are also a number of Trailers on this disc. The ‘TheatricalTrailer’ for the film is an amusing one, which sadly gives away thefew great gags the film has in its arsenal! There’s also a “FarrellyBrothers Trailer” which is a trailer designed to advertise the DVDreleases of There’s Something About Mary, Me, Myself & Irene andSay It Isn’t So! It’s packed full of the best moments from these threemovies. Curiously, the best gag is from Say It Isn’t So!, which iseasily the worst movie the Farrelly’s have been involved in!
We also have a trailers for the movies Unfaithful, Minority Reportand Banger Sisters. Which is a good thing, or a bad thing depending onyour personal stance with bundled advertising. Personall, I don’t mind -as long as the trailers aren’t forced on you.
Also included on the DVD are 11 ‘Deleted Scenes’ (with/withoutcommentary). These include: “Guess Who Got The Promotion?” “Bed Ditch”,”Sorority”, “Cab Gag”, “Beginning Gym”, “Rene Sings”, “Phone Sex/Gym 2″,”Karma Dog”, “Fight In The Park” and “Scene 11 v3”. As with most deletedscenes, most are deservedly excised from the movie – but a few raisesome wry smiles.
Shallow Hal has a number of ‘Featurettes’ on its packed disk,including a “HBO Making Of Special” – which is yet another light makingof featurette which moderately covers the bases you’d expect, butreveals nothing more. “Comedy Central Reel Comedy” is a slightly morein-depth ‘making of’ featurette, blessed with a more appealing stylethan the HBO offering.
“Seeing Through The Layers” is an interesting ‘making of’ documentaryoutlining the fantastic makeup effects that transformed the hourglassGwyneth Paltrow into the tubby 300lbs Rosemary. Finally, “In The DeepEnd” explains how the filmmakers managed to make it appear slenderGwyneth Paltrow created a massive splash in a pool. Interesting, buthardly a revelation to anyone with a ounce of intelligence! To roundeverything off, there’s even a ‘Music Video’ – “Wall In Your Heart”, byShelby Lynne.
Overall then, Shallow Hal benefits from a fairly substantial DVDrelease, bolstered by a great transfer of the actual film. The majorityof the extra features are pleasing – especially if you’re a fan of thefilm – but offer only a few highlights for casual viewers lured intoflicking through the disk once the film’s credits begin to roll…
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.