This movie genuinely thought it was saying something really meaningful about looking beyond appearances, but it ended up reinforcing the exact beauty standards it was trying to criticize. The whole concept relies on the audience seeing women who don't fit conventional beauty standards , whether they're larger, older, or just not considered "traditionally attractive" as "ugly" before it tries to challenge that idea. Instead of breaking those standards down, the movie keeps using them as the punchline. If your message only works because you're constantly making larger women the joke, you've missed the point.
The sexist attitudes start almost immediately. Hal's dying father uses his final moments to tell his son not to settle, cruelly insults Hal's mother even though she genuinely loved and cared for the dad, and encourages him to find a "classic beauty." It's clearly meant to explain why Hal grows up so obsessed with women's appearances. In the movie women exist exclusively to be evaluated, ranked, and desired by men.
And then theres Mauricio. The confidence this man has despite looking like a fucking broke loser makes me so angry. He spends the entire movie acting like he's some hot shit handing out unwanted opinions on women's bodies as if anyone asked. Sir, the call is coming from inside the house.
And it’s not even just Mauricio. There’s also a physically disabled character who shows up in the story, and the way the movie handles him just feels really off. It’s not even funny it just feels like he’s been dropped into scenes for the sake of getting a reaction out of the audience rather than being treated like a real character. It adds to this bigger problem where the movie seems way too comfortable using people’s bodies and differences as the punchline.
The saddest part is that there was a good message in here somewhere. Beauty shouldn't be defined by impossible standards, and people deserve to be valued for more than what they look like. Unfortunately, this movie buried it under fatphobic jokes, sexist attitudes, and bad humor.
Congratulations, Shallow Hal. You made a movie about not judging people by their appearance while doing EXACTLY that for 2 hours.
This movie genuinely thought it was saying something really meaningful about looking beyond appearances, but it ended up reinforcing the exact beauty standards it was trying to criticize. The whole concept relies on the audience seeing women who don't fit conventional beauty standards , whether they're larger, older, or just not considered "traditionally attractive" as "ugly" before it tries to challenge that idea. Instead of breaking those standards down, the movie keeps using them as the punchline. If your message only works because you're constantly making larger women the joke, you've missed the point.
The sexist attitudes start almost immediately. Hal's dying father uses his final moments to tell his son not to settle, cruelly insults Hal's mother even though she genuinely loved and cared for the dad, and encourages him to find a "classic beauty." It's clearly meant to explain why Hal grows up so obsessed with women's appearances. In the movie women exist exclusively to be evaluated, ranked, and desired by men.
And then theres Mauricio. The confidence this man has despite looking like a fucking broke loser makes me so angry. He spends the entire movie acting like he's some hot shit handing out unwanted opinions on women's bodies as if anyone asked. Sir, the call is coming from inside the house.
And it’s not even just Mauricio. There’s also a physically disabled character who shows up in the story, and the way the movie handles him just feels really off. It’s not even funny it just feels like he’s been dropped into scenes for the sake of getting a reaction out of the audience rather than being treated like a real character. It adds to this bigger problem where the movie seems way too comfortable using people’s bodies and differences as the punchline.
The saddest part is that there was a good message in here somewhere. Beauty shouldn't be defined by impossible standards, and people deserve to be valued for more than what they look like. Unfortunately, this movie buried it under fatphobic jokes, sexist attitudes, and bad humor.
Congratulations, Shallow Hal. You made a movie about not judging people by their appearance while doing EXACTLY that for 2 hours.
