History Film / ShallowHal

** Atop all this, the secondary message is that unattractive people are still people and they deserve respect, too. Commendable, but it rings a little hollow when at least half the jokes are basically the movie pointing and yelling "Haw haw, look at what a fatass she is!", including not one, but '''two''' "flattened furniture" gags.

** FridgeBrilliance: Hal, who is still seeing people for their inner beauty (or lack thereof), sees this very kind transgendered person as a very cute, and even pretty, young woman, despite most people usually seeing her as a, well, freak, as Hal seemed to think after the curse was broken. Made even more brilliant when you think about how he's viewing a biological male as a female on the inside.

* SeinfeldianConversation: Hal and Mauricio have one, in a likely ShoutOut to Creator/JasonAlexander's role on ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}''.

* AsHimself: Tony Robbins, Joshua "Li'iBoy" Shintani
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]].
** In this movie it's not so much Beauty equals goodness than 'Goodness equals beauty', where the better a person you are the more attractive Hal perceives you as.
* BeautyInversion: A number of beautiful actresses wore makeup to make them appear ugly outside of Hal's "Inner Beauty Vision". The director especially took flack for casting a skinny actress like Paltrow as a fat woman, but he explained that it was easier for Paltrow to fat up (with makeup and a fatsuit) than it was for a heavy actress to slim down.

* BrawnHilda: After Hal loses his Inner Beauty Vision, the robust housemaid that he initially confuses for Rosemary is named Helga.
* BrokenAesop: TrueBeautyIsOnTheInside? Kind of undermined by Rosemary being morbidly obese. Her eating habits are incredibly unhealthy and she's likely going to have a heart attack. There's a difference between not conforming to Hollywood's vision of beauty and doing what's best for your own health

* ComplimentBackfire: When Hal meets Rosemary's mother he says "I see where Rosemary gets her figure from". He intends it as a compliment because he sees both of them as slim women, not realising they're both quite overweight.

* CutASliceTakeTheRest: Rosemary cuts off a "sliver" of a cake that's about 1/3 as big as the whole cake itself, and walks off munching on it like a Pringles chip.
* FreakinessShame: Turns out Mauricio has a tail.

* FreakinessShame: Turns out Maurice has a tail.
* FreudianExcuse: Hal is shallow because of his father's dying last words about appearance, his friend has [[spoiler: a dog-like tail]].

* {{Hypocrisy}}: It's obvious in both Hal and his friend's characters that they really shouldn't have high expectations from women, looking the way they do.

* {{Jerk with a Heart of Gold}}: Hal.
** Maurice could almost count too, given that he develops some depth as the film goes on.

* MinorFlawMajorBreakup: Hal's friend gives a [[Film/MaryPoppins practically perfect]] girl the cold shoulder, passing up an opportunity to see a [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]] reunion while George Harrison was still alive, ostensibly because one of her second toes is slightly longer than normal. Turns out however that it's because [[spoiler:he's ashamed of his own elongated tailbone.]]

* SlidingScaleOfBeauty: quite notably scores pretty evenly around the scale. The nastier girls (and Rosemary in Hal's eyes) are very pretty, while some of the characters are just average or flawed average, perhaps flawed pretty, and some of the nice girls are honestly ugly.

* TitleDrop: "Shallow Hal wants a gal", the incantation Hal's friend uses to break the hypnosis.
* UglyGuyHotWife: The Shanahans. Mrs Shanahan is actually quite overweight too but still prettier than her husband.

JackBlack plays Hal Larson, who, unconsciously traumatized by his father's death at age nine, is one of the shallowest men in the world. Until one day when, trapped in an elevator with Tony Robbins, he is unknowingly hypnotized so that, every time he meets someone new from that point onward, he will see their "inner beauty" instead of their real appearance.

!!''Shallow Hal'' provides examples of:

** RogerEbert puts forth a partial justification for this in his review, pointing out that movies, being a primarily visual storytelling medium, would ''use'' a visual method of showing us how Hal perceives people now.

** FridgeBrilliance: Hal, who is still seeing people for their inner beauty (or lack thereof), sees this very kind transgendered person as a very cute, and even pretty, young woman, despite most people usually seeing her as a, well, freak, as Hal seemed to think after the curse was broken.

* MinorFlawMajorBreakup: Hal's friend gives a [[Film/MaryPoppins practically perfect]] girl the cold shoulder, passing up an opportunity to see a {{Beatles}} reunion while George Harrison was still alive, ostensibly because one of her second toes is slightly longer than normal. Turns out however that it's because [[spoiler:he's ashamed of his own elongated tailbone.]]

* UnsettlingGenderReveal: The hostess at the restaurant turns out to be a transgendered person.

* MinorFlawMajorBreakup: Hal's friend gives a [[Film/MaryPoppins practically perfect]] girl the cold shoulder, ostensibly because one of her second toes is slightly longer than normal. Turns out however that it's because [[spoiler:he's ashamed of his own elongated tailbone.]]

* EarWorm: "Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes" by Edison Lighthouse.

* DroppedABridgetOnHim: The hostess at the restaurant turns out to be a transgendered person.

* UglyGuyHotWife: The Shanahans. Mrs Shanahan is actually quite overweight too but still prettier than her husband.

* Ear Worm: "Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes" by Edison Lighthouse.

* BigBeautifulWoman: Hal eventually sees Rosemary as this.

* HairOfGold: Rosemary is kind and generous with attractive inner beauty.

* AsHimself: Tony Robbins.

* RunningOnAllFours