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Probe Movie Review
by Preston Fillagre
Shallow Hal
The makers of the original Great Train Robbery agonized over the landmark
use of a "cut," fearing that audiences would be hopelessly confused. Now we
have the Farelly brothers who think audiences will get confused if a
character in a film possessing "inner beauty" is not portrayed by Gwynneth
Paltrow. Commercialization or Objectifiation; which is the true engine
behind this assault on our sensibilities?
Our complicity in this guided
tour of Sartean nausea is assured by the casting before the opening credits
even roll. An abundance of issues related to valuation qua ideation,
self-referentiality of perception, neurological identity formations, and
interpersonal depth could have been explored, but the Farellys were not
possessed with the same ability to see within that Hal has. A Bergmanesque
turn could have been employed where the girl confronts her own reflection,
in the style of "Persona," but that would require us to see her "shallowly"
in the guise of a less-than-perfect face and form.
The entire suite of
conflicts available to a director who chooses to take on Merleau-Ponty's
investigation of incarnation still stand ready to be explored; they have
been left undisturbed by this Neanderthal showpiece intended to draw
half-hearted yucks from slack jaws between bouts of drooling. The Farellys
are to be saluted for truth in advertising since the film is as shallow as
Camille's last breath.
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