I Think We Need To Give Shallow Hal a Second Chance

Shallow Hal could easily be described as one of those movies that haven't aged well. The comedic plot follows a hypnotized shallow man who falls for a supermodel-looking woman without realizing she's actually obese. With body positivity being spoken about more, the character of Rosemary being the center of fat jokes wouldn't sit well with audiences today.

However, I think that people need to look deeply into the Farrelly Brothers' movie and understand the underlying message of inner beauty behind it. They even said to the Chicago Tribune:

"It never occurred to us to make fun of heavy people; it wasn't our intention. Besides, heavyset people are everywhere. It would be pretty insensitive not to understand how hard it is to be heavy. And it's cultural! A woman with some meat on her was the height of attractiveness at one time and will become so again."

If you need more of an excuse to give Shallow Hal a rewatch, here are five reasons to do so:

1. Superficiality Was Tackled Head-On

We're first introduced to eight-year-old Hal Larson, whose last words from his dying father were to find a woman with "a hot young tail." As an adult, Hal only went after women who looked like supermodels despite their mean personalities. Like Hal's work friends pointed out, he's "not that good-looking," yet he had an idealized perception of what the "right" woman looked like.

It was no secret that Hal's high standards were a turn-off. Dating a woman solely based on their looks and not giving average-looking women a chance is not a realistic way to find Mrs. Right. Shallow standards hurt everyone, as there could be a woman who's perfect for a man if he got to know her, but he'll look the other way if she doesn't look like a Beauty Queen.

2. We're Actually Seeing Some Male Development Happening Here!

After Hal got hypnotised by a TV guru in an elevator, his vision changed, and he could see the "inner beauty" in people. Physically unattractive people with beautiful personalities suddenly looked beautiful on the outside to Hal. This led him to meet Rosemary, who, to us and Hal, looked like the gorgeous Gwyneth Paltrow we know. Hal didn't know that, in fact, Rosemary was an obese woman.

Shallow Hal was brilliant in showing the need to look beyond appearances and into the person. Hal saw that getting to know Rosemary's genuine, heartfelt personality ultimately won him over compared to her physical beauty.

3. Shallow Hal Humanized Characters Beyond Their Stereotypes

There's no doubt that Shallow Hal has plenty of offensive jokes towards Rosemary's weight. We're supposed to be in shock when Rosemary ordered and ate high-calorie food, she broke chairs, and gave explosive cannon balls that sent a kid up in a tree. Jokes like that definitely wouldn't stand in today's body-positive world. But with this movie being a comedy first, this was probably, at the time, the only way the Farrelly Brothers thought they could make audiences laugh.

As we get to know the character of Rosemary with Hal, we see Rosemary is smart, kind, and has a good-natured soul. Through her work with the Peace Corps and volunteering at the hospital in the children's ward, Rosemary is an incredibly beautiful person who doesn't let her weight define her actions or the clothes she wears. She's true to herself.

4. Shallow Hal Not Only Had Punchlines, But Heart Too

Shallow Hal is certainly a funny movie. But what makes this comedy memorable to me is its moments of tenderness. We can feel for Rosemary when she vented to Hal about not being beautiful and feeling that Hal was wrong in constantly saying so. I'm sure a lot of overweight women have felt that way at some point whenever guys are nice to them. It's a situation many can relate to in being afraid to get close to someone, believing it's too good to be true if they have a negative perception of themselves to begin with.

The scene that still hits my heartstrings to this day was when Hal met a little girl named Cadence, remarking how cute she looked. But when Hal's hypnosis disappeared, he saw what Cadence really looked like- a burn victim with scars all over her face and scalp. If Hal wasn't hypnotized in the first place, his shallow self probably would have stayed away from Cadence. But after he saw that the cute little girl he met with Rosemary was the burn victim before him, Hal saw that beauty lies skin deep, and shallowness can prevent us from meeting great people.

5. The Farrelly Brothers' Flick Can Open Up Discussions About Beauty Standards

Whether you love or hate Shallow Hal, you can't deny that the movie hits the topics hard about inner beauty and societal pressure for men to go out with drop-dead gorgeous women. In a world where dating apps and sites have us pick romantic prospects based on their profile pic, movies like this can open up discussions about attraction and the genuine definition of beauty.

Shallow Hal is not a perfect movie, and we can't ignore that the film's fat jokes wouldn't stand well today. However, I think the movie still deserves its props for its strong message of not going for people solely based on their looks and to give people of different body types a chance.