A Saturday night time passer with Humour (Shallow Hal (DVD))

Member Name: andycharger

Product:	Shallow Hal (DVD)
Date:	02/02/03 (53 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny in places.

Disadvantages: Predictable , Soundtrack grates on me

Firstly, before I start, I must say that if it was not for my wife, I would never have given this film a second glance.
Its going to be a wishy washy feelgood/happy ending type film. You just know it. It has it written all over it. But, I gave it a chance and Im glad I did. It was worth a viewing but I suggest wait for Sky rather than stampede your way to Blockbuster to rent it!

Yes, Shallow Hal is a good film but it borders on cheesiness. Its got more Stilton and Cheddar than the Deli at Tesco! We are talking Cheese city here but it does it with a small part of humour and entertainment thrown in.

Ok, so what is it about?

Basically, the main Character, Hal, is a very Shallow man. So no points for the guy or gal that came up with the title. Yes, Hal looks at women with a very bad attitude. No one is good enough for our man and he is less than successful to say the least. This is not helped by his friend who also has the same outlook. These 2 guys are no oil paintings themselves but they seem to have overlooked this.
Anyway, after a chance meeting with a Therapist/personality that helps people overcome fears and anxieties, he is a changed man. The less attractive and fat people who may not be much to look at on the outside become attractive as he can see their inner beauty. There then follows some hilarious moments and not so funny as he meets all of these "inner Beauty" types!
One of these is played by the wonderful Gwyneth Paltrow. She makes the part for me but I feel she looks and acts more like Pheobe from Friends more than playing herself. In fact, I had to remember a couple of times that it was not her.
Hal is played by Jack who has been in a few of these type of comedy films of this genre and seems to be getting stereotyped as a hapless buffoon.

Plot.
Well, its not that imaginationally challenging to work out what is going to happen. You get the idea after a few minutes. For those of you who ca
nt work out plots, you will have no problems here.
AS for suprises and suspense, forget it. You can predict what is coming next.
Then again, you have not watched it for an edge of your seat thriller. You have watched it to have a few laughs and a bit of fun.

Humour?
A few laughs is what it totals up to. A Few. Most of the humour is mediocre but I did laugh out loud couple of times. The problem is, most of it is aimed at fat people which may be seen as offensive.

Acting.
Well, it is ok but there are no oscars being awarded here. Paltrow carries off her Pheobe impersonation well if that is what she is meant to be doing and the larger than life characters overact so much, that its hard to tell if its not a joke or not.

Soundtrack.
Sounds much like a typical American teen film with thrashy Teen guitar music with a few slower numbers to make you feel the loving moments. However, this concept has been done to death with American Pie, Dude, wheres my car and Road Trip.

Overall.
OK if you and your partner want a non taxing film to watch on a long night. However, take my advice. Wait to see it on Sky rather than waste a trip to BlockBuster.

Summary: