Yesterday’s movie: Shallow Hal

In the Farrelly Brother’s latest low-class comedy, Jack Black (so great in High Fidelity) plays Shallow Hal. Transformed by self-help guru Tony Robbins (playing himself), lifelong supermodel junkie Hal Larsen is only able to see people by their inner beauty. Accordingly, he sees Rosemary (Gwyneth Paltrow) as a sexy, svelte blonde (Gwyneth Paltrow without much makeup) while others, most significantly best friend Mauricio (Jayson Alexander), see her as the 300 pounder she truly is. Hal is baffled by others’ reactions to her and when he finally is confronted with the truth, we find out if he is a real human being or as shallow as the movie title suggests. While overall I don’t think this film reaches the same level of hilarity as the Farrelly’s There’s Something About Mary, it does have it’s moments. And I have to give screenwriter Sean Moynihan and the brothers credit for making effective use of the supporting characters as mirrors, but then take most of it away for just not giving us a decent third act.

The filmmakers have set up an amusing secondary website, MasterPlayers, to let Mauricio help you out with those young superhotties.