Shallow Hal

Gulp! Can it actually be true? Can the Farrelly brothers — filmmakers so crass and lowbrow they introduced the phrase "Dumb & Dumber" into our lexicon — be getting more sentimental and sweeter as time goes by?

Misleading trailers aside, their newest, "Shallow Hal," seems to indicate that may be the case, believe it or not.

Of course, what might be perceived as being a sweet and endearing Farrelly brothers movie will never be confused with family-friendly Disney fare (though some of Disney's live-action movies are actually cruder and much more mean-spirited than this one).

However, there are a few big missteps and stumbles along the way. Also, there's a chance that its rather positive message could be misconstrued and that audiences may laugh at and react negatively to the wrong things. But on the whole, the at-times-screamingly-funny comedy does a surprisingly good job of turning some societal misconceptions on their ear.

The title character is Hal Larsen (Jack Black). Despite the fact that he's a calorically challenged slob, Hal is under the impression that he's "too good" for women not normally thought of by society as beauties.

He's due for a big comedown, though. When he's trapped in an elevator with self-esteem guru Anthony Robbins, Hal is hypnotized — or, in Robbins' eyes, "de-hypnotized" — and has his perceptions changed dramatically.

To the horror of his equally shallow friend Mauricio (Jason Alexander, sporting sprinkled-on hair), Hal begins wooing women he normally wouldn't be seen with, including the seemingly too-good-to-be-true Rosemary Shanahan (Gwyneth Paltrow).

While Hal sees Rosemary's inner beauty and begins falling for the kind-hearted hospital volunteer, all Mauricio sees is his pal cavorting with a "rhino" (his words), so he is determined to get to the bottom of this mystery.

It's a testament to how far the Farrellys have come that the film ends on a perfectly sweet note. (Earlier in their career, there's no doubt that it would have ended differently.)

As far-fetched as this premise is, the cast makes it work. In particular, this is one of Paltrow's best performances. (As Rosemary, she's so sweet and lovable, you'll begin to believe she really is her character.) And even though he's known as more of a comedian, Black holds his own with her and shows off a surprising range.

"Shallow Hal" is rated PG-13 for vulgar humor and sight gags (some sexual), as well as scattered use of profanity (including one utterance of the so-called "R-rated" curse word). Running time: 113 minutes.

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