SHALLOW HAL (DVD/1.85/DD 5.1/SP-BOTH/ENG-SUB) DVD

Shallow Hal
Jack Black continues his march to stardom with this typical Farrelly brothers blend of broad comedy and a heartfelt message. Black is Hal Larsen, a shallow man rapidly approaching middle age whose superficiality can be attributed to his father's deathbed admonition to only date young, beautiful women. Hal and his best friend, Mauricio (Jason Alexander), have taken the advice to heart, but Hal finds all of his physically impressive girlfriends consistently lacking in other qualities that would make them ideal mates. When he bumps into self-help guru Tony Robbins (playing himself), the motivational entrepreneur is intrigued by Hal's predicament and hypnotizes him so that he'll only see the inner beauty of women. Hal is quickly smitten with Rosemary Shanahan (Gwyneth Paltrow), a blonde Peace Corps volunteer who's tenderhearted, funny, and intelligent. She is also gorgeous and meets Hal's basic criteria of outer perfection, but what he doesn't realize is that Robbins' spell is working and he cannot see that Rosemary actually weights 300 pounds. When Mauricio is finally able to snap Hal out of his charmed state, Hal's in love with the inwardly perfect woman and must overcome his obsession with beauty. The script for Shallow Hal (2001) was developed when Peter Farrelly enjoyed the humorous letters written to a mutual friend by Sean Moynihan, a computer software executive who followed the filmmaker's advice to take up screenwriting. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Cast Gwyneth Paltrow as Rosemary Shanahan Jack Black as Hal Larsen Jason Alexander as Mauricio Joe Viterelli as Steve Shanahan Rene Kirby as Walt Bruce McGill as Reverend Larson Tony Robbins as Himself Susan Ward as Jill Zen Gesner as Ralph Brooke Burns as Katrina Rob Moran as Other Hostess Joshua Li'i'Boy Shitani as Li'iBoy Kyle Gass as Artie Laura Kightlinger as Jen Nan Martin as Nurse Tanya Peeler Sasha Joseph Neulinger as Young Hal John-Eliot Jordan as Waiter Jill Christine Fitzgerald as Mrs. Shanahan Fawn Irish as Spastic Bella Erinn Bartlett as Bella

Crew Arlan Jay Vetter - Art Director Sarah S. Lopez - Associate Producer Kristofer W. Meyer - Associate Producer Rick Montgomery - Casting Mark Charpentier - Co-producer Marc S. Fischer - Co-producer Pamela Withers Chilton - Costume Designer Hal Olofsson - First Assistant Director Peter Farrelly - Director Bobby Farrelly - Director Josh Klausner - Second Unit Director Christopher Greenbury - Editor Ivy - Composer (Music Score) Manish Raval - Musical Direction/Supervision Tom Wolfe - Musical Direction/Supervision Artists Asylum - Makeup Special Effects Al Gardner - Makeup Special Effects Sidney Bartholomew Jr. - Production Designer Russell Carpenter - Cinematographer Bradley Thomas - Producer Charles B. Wessler - Producer Bobby Farrelly - Producer Peter Farrelly - Producer Scott Jacobson - Set Designer Sharon Davis - Set Designer Jonathan "Earl" Stein - Sound/Sound Designer John Joseph Thomas - Special Effects Supervisor Bobby Farrelly - Screenwriter Peter Farrelly - Screenwriter Sean Moynihan - Screenwriter Robert Newcomb - Additional Cinematography Richard K. Wright - Properties Master

Shallow Hal
Shallow Hal caused an immediate furor about its alleged characterization of fat people as the grotesque butts of sophomoric jokes. Of course, most of those complaining hadn't seen the source of their outrage. Peter and Bobby Farrelly's sixth film is about much more than the questionable sight gags that punctuate the trailer. For the first time in their scatological careers, the directors have made a film that actually provokes thought, delivering a message about social perception that's far more idealized than wicked, and not fixated on weight alone. There's natural discomfort in the fact that some punch lines revolve around seeing what Hal's beauties really look like, but the directors twist this brilliantly to help the audience reexamine its own ingrained shallowness. With the notable exception of cruelly exaggerating Rosemary's appetite, they rarely flog the joke, instead rendering the characters with painstaking dignity. The set-up also allows the actresses, from anonymous babes all the way up to a touchingly sweet Gwyneth Paltrow, a rare opportunity to demonstrate their ability to play characters with low self-esteem. Jack Black is perfect as Hal, a generally decent guy whose major flaw is shared by most of the audience -- that his cultural upbringing has taught him to judge the book by its cover. The "freaks" the brothers have always employed as part of their tasteless humor finally have thematic relevance, including characters with spina bifida and a vestigial tail. Shallow Hal may not move at the laugh-a-minute pace Farrelly fans expect, nor will it win any humanitarian awards. But the directors deserve credit for repudiating their usual hijinks in favor of ambitious, if somewhat naïve, social commentary, which just might open minds among viewers. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
 

(no awards)

General Specifications: Language Options: English, Spanish, French Subtitle Options: English Sound Processing: DD5.1: Dolby Digital w/ sub-woofer channel DDS: Dolby Digital Surround Additional Features: Full-length audio commentary by directors Bobby Farrelly and Peter Farrelly 11 deleted scenes with optional Farrelly Brothers commentary HBO "Making of" special Comedy Central's reel comedy: Shallow Hal Music video: "Wall in Your Heart" by Shelby Lynne "Seeing Through the Layers" makeup featurette "In at the Deep End With Shallow Hal" stunts featurette Original theatrical trailer Anamorphic widescreen (aspect ratio 1.85:1) Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Surround, Spanish Dolby Surround, French Dolby Surround Subtitles: English DVD Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1: Theatre Wide-Screen MPAA Rating: PG13 DVD Discs Included: 1 DVD Sides: 1 DVD DVD Region Code: 1 Content Length: 113 min   DVD Chapters: Disc #1 -- Shallow Hal 1. Dad's Final Words 2. Main Titles 3. Two Shallow Guys 4. No Attraction 5. A Huge Flaw 6. Touched by Tony Robbins 7. Inner Beauty 8. A Whole New Hal 9. Rosemary 10. Her Defender 11. Mauricio's Issues 12. Rosie's Kids 13. A Really Pretty Girl 14. Making Up 15. Mom & Dad 16. A Lucky Guy 17. Hal's Promotion 18. Walt's Mystery Girl 19. The Old Boyfriend 20. Mauricio's Plea 21. The Magic Words 22. Screwed 23. The Heart Thing 24. A Date With Jill 25. Looking for Rosemary 26. A Sad Tail 27. The Only Girl I've Ever Loved 28. End Titles