bnorthup
11-13-2001, 02:23 AM
Shallow is an Understatement
***
Three stars
Shallow Hal Movie Review
By Katherine Northup
Freshman, Helena High
The movie “Shallow Hal” is a comedy with a truthful twist.
It’s about a man named Hal (Jack Black) who only wants women for their looks. The women around him can tell that he’s only interested in their bodies, because they are physically beautiful.
But one day, that all changes. He is trapped in an elevator with TV guru Tony Robbins. Tony decides that he is going to help Hal by giving him the gift to see only the inner beauty rather than looks.
Then Hal meets Rosemary (Gwyneth Paltrow). In actuality, she is supposed to be this obese woman who men don’t think is pretty. But in Hals eyes, she’s a super-thin ultra hot model. He compliments her, but Rosemary thinks that he is only being rude.
Eventually she realizes that he is sincere, and they fall in love. Hal’s friends and co-workers cannot understand why he’s dating this woman, but Hal finds no problem with it. Even Rosemary’s dad, who is the head of the company where Hal works, has no clue.
It makes sense that the movie producers would use a stereotype that would appear unappealing for the person who is supposed to be Rosemary, but I find it rude to use someone who is overweight.
I agree with Ebert (believe it or not) that it would have been better if that person had appeared the way she was, instead of being skinny. That just promotes the idea that overweight people aren’t pretty and only skinny people with long blonde hair, blue eyes, and weigh under 100 lbs. are pretty.
I don’t agree with that at all. In fact, that bothers me to no end. In Hal’s eyes, Rosemary appeared skinny and “beautiful.” The fact that someone is skinny doesn’t necessarily mean that they are pretty on the inside where it counts.
But anyway, back to the movie. Hal’s friend Mauricio (Jason Alexander), wants his old friend back. Mauricio likes the old “shallow Hal,” not this new one who picks out “ugly” girls instead of the hotties he used to try to pick up.
So Hal’s “friend” goes to Tony Robbins and convinces him to undo the spell – returning Hal to normal vision. It works – now Hal no longer sees Rosemary as beautiful, and he dumps her.
Eventually, things work out, of course, but a people get hurt along the way.
I think the moral of this story is you can’t judge someone by how they look or what they do. Whether they are overweight, short, tall, fair skinned, dark skinned, of another race, dress differently, act differently or have a different sexual preference than you do, they can still be wonderful people. You just have to get to know them first.
Quite a few people refuse to let you get to know them because they are afraid you’ll hurt them because that has happened before. Usually that’s because they look or act differently.
I’m sure that no one wants to let someone into their lives just to have that person hurt them. I’m afraid this issue usually gets me on a soapbox and I can ramble on for hours about rights and civility.
So I ask you, please don’t judge people by their differences. Get to know them first. This movie was a great one. I loved it.
***
Three stars
Shallow Hal Movie Review
By Katherine Northup
Freshman, Helena High
The movie “Shallow Hal” is a comedy with a truthful twist.
It’s about a man named Hal (Jack Black) who only wants women for their looks. The women around him can tell that he’s only interested in their bodies, because they are physically beautiful.
But one day, that all changes. He is trapped in an elevator with TV guru Tony Robbins. Tony decides that he is going to help Hal by giving him the gift to see only the inner beauty rather than looks.
Then Hal meets Rosemary (Gwyneth Paltrow). In actuality, she is supposed to be this obese woman who men don’t think is pretty. But in Hals eyes, she’s a super-thin ultra hot model. He compliments her, but Rosemary thinks that he is only being rude.
Eventually she realizes that he is sincere, and they fall in love. Hal’s friends and co-workers cannot understand why he’s dating this woman, but Hal finds no problem with it. Even Rosemary’s dad, who is the head of the company where Hal works, has no clue.
It makes sense that the movie producers would use a stereotype that would appear unappealing for the person who is supposed to be Rosemary, but I find it rude to use someone who is overweight.
I agree with Ebert (believe it or not) that it would have been better if that person had appeared the way she was, instead of being skinny. That just promotes the idea that overweight people aren’t pretty and only skinny people with long blonde hair, blue eyes, and weigh under 100 lbs. are pretty.
I don’t agree with that at all. In fact, that bothers me to no end. In Hal’s eyes, Rosemary appeared skinny and “beautiful.” The fact that someone is skinny doesn’t necessarily mean that they are pretty on the inside where it counts.
But anyway, back to the movie. Hal’s friend Mauricio (Jason Alexander), wants his old friend back. Mauricio likes the old “shallow Hal,” not this new one who picks out “ugly” girls instead of the hotties he used to try to pick up.
So Hal’s “friend” goes to Tony Robbins and convinces him to undo the spell – returning Hal to normal vision. It works – now Hal no longer sees Rosemary as beautiful, and he dumps her.
Eventually, things work out, of course, but a people get hurt along the way.
I think the moral of this story is you can’t judge someone by how they look or what they do. Whether they are overweight, short, tall, fair skinned, dark skinned, of another race, dress differently, act differently or have a different sexual preference than you do, they can still be wonderful people. You just have to get to know them first.
Quite a few people refuse to let you get to know them because they are afraid you’ll hurt them because that has happened before. Usually that’s because they look or act differently.
I’m sure that no one wants to let someone into their lives just to have that person hurt them. I’m afraid this issue usually gets me on a soapbox and I can ramble on for hours about rights and civility.
So I ask you, please don’t judge people by their differences. Get to know them first. This movie was a great one. I loved it.