Jack Black has since appeared in a lot of family-friendly movies, becoming a household name. He has a career that many actors will envy, from playing the role of Bowser in the Super Mario Bros movie to playing the music-loving substitute teacher in School of Rock.
However, there’s a 2001 movie that Jack is not so proud to have on his acting credits, and he said that starring in the movie made him feel like a ‘ sell-out’, even though it did receive some good reviews at the time of its release.
Shallow Hal saw Jack, starring opposite Gwyneth Paltrow, playing Hal, a man who despite not having the perfect physique himself, was obsessive and picky about looks when trying to find a girlfriend. Then, Hal is only able to see inner beauty.
When he meets Gwyneth Paltrow, who donned a fat suit for the role, he sees her as a slim, conventionally pretty woman, mirroring her kind personality and loving nature. However, to the rest of the world, she’s seen as a plus-sized woman and treated poorly due to her size.
While the movie does have a positive message about looking at people’s inner beauty, many have criticised the film as being fatphobic, relying on humour based on Gwyneth’s character’s size. Rose, the female lead, eats a lot of food, and climbs into swimming pools to break chairs.
In a 2006 interview, Jack spoke about why he took the role, which saw him work with the Farrelly brothers, known for creating comedy movies such as Dumb and Dumber and There’s Something About Mary. “I had an opportunity to work with some dudes I thought were really funny, but it didn’t turn out as I’d hoped”, said Jack.
He added: “I wasn’t proud of it, and I got paid a lot of money, so, in retrospect, it feels like a sell-out”. Not just him, though, regrets making the movie. In an interview with the Guardian, Gwyneth described the movie as a “disaster,” revealing what it was like to wear the prosthetics.
“I walked through the lobby of the Tribeca Grand the first day I tried on the fat suit.” It was so sad. It was so disturbing. Because I was obese, no one would look me in the eyes. I felt humiliated. For some reason, the clothes they make for women that are overweight are horrible. I felt humiliated because people were really dismissive”, she said.
In a 2020 promotional video for Netflix called The BFF Test, Gwyneth asked her friend “what’s my least favourite performance”? Gwyneth laughed and said, “That was before your time! ” when her friend correctly guessed Shallow Hal. See what happened? Disaster”.
At the time of release, Shallow Hal received mixed reviews. In the Chicago Sun Times, critic Roger Ebert claimed that it was “often very funny but occasionally surprisingly moving.” A. O. Scott of the New York Times said: “There are enough moments of demented comedy to make you aspirate your popcorn, but by the end you may find yourself, with some amazement, sniffing back tears”.
However, J Hoberman of the Village Voice said the movie was “not only light on laughs but discomfortingly didactic in its disgust,” while Neil Smith of the BBC described the movie as “hilarious in parts, sickeningly sentimental in others, and Shallow Hal has the Farrellys trying to expand their range, with only mildly successful results.”
Disney+ is currently streaming Shallow Hal.
Source: Mirror
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