Shallow Hal poster

Shallow Hal (2001)

Film · 1h 54m · Rated PG-13

Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Romance

A shallow man, hypnotized into seeing inner beauty, finds whimsical romance with a woman he perceives as perfect.

Feel-good and romantic, with big broad humor. A date-night pick at a measured pace. Emotionally it carries some weight.

Not on a US subscription service as of Oct 27, 2026.

Shallow Hal parents guide

It stays inside its PG-13, with some innuendo or implied sex and mild language.

Rated PG-13, but by what is on screen our estimate is fine from about 10.

Scare
Not scary
Jump scares
None noted
Gore
No gore
Violence
No real violence
Sex and nudity
Mild
Mild means innuendo, or sex implied off screen, with no nudity.
Language
Mild
Mild words like damn, hell or crap.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

What is Shallow Hal about?

After taking his dying father's advice, Hal dates only the embodiments of female physical perfection. But that all changes after Hal has an unexpected run-in with self-help guru Tony Robbins. Intrigued by Hal's shallowness, Robbins hypnotizes him into seeing the beauty that exists even in the least physically appealing women. Hal soon falls for Rosemary, but he doesn't realize that his gorgeous girlfriend is actually a 300-pound-not-so-hottie.

Does it have a happy ending? (spoiler-safe)

Yes. It lands on a happy note.

Cast and crew

Directed byBobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
StarringJack Black, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jason Alexander, Joe Viterelli, Rene Kirby, Bruce McGill

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Uses the TMDB API; not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Intensity, content, tone and pace tags are CouchRot's own.