Shallow Hal

Ever since There’s Something About Mary, the Farrelly brothers have been losing their touch. After Me, Myself, and Irene and Osmosis Jones, we now get this one, a confused little movie about seeing the inner beauty in people, rather than their flawed exteriors. Jack Black, the current funniest man in the world, is underutilized as Hal, who is mandated by his father’s dying words to seek only “hot” women for relationships. After a meeting with Tony Robbins in an elevator, Hal is conditioned to see people for their inner self, and in the case of 300-pound, good-hearted Rosemarie, she winds up looking like Gwyneth Paltrow (in a very good performance). The Farrellys throw some of their bad taste humor into a few scenes that you have seen in the commercials. For the most part, they are going for some sort of bittersweet, sentimental angle that they have no business trying to create at this point in time. They should stick to slob comedy.