The Farrelly Brothers Think ‘Shallow Hal’ Totally Holds Up

The Farrelly Brothers are known for making iconic comedies like Dumb and Dumber, Kingpin and There’s Something About Mary — as well as less-than-iconic comedies like Hall Pass and the remake of The Heartbreak Kid that somehow missed the entire point of the original. After working on separate projects for the past decade (including one of the worst Oscar Best Picture winners of all time), the Farrelly Brothers are back together. Sort of. 

The new comedy Dear Santa was directed by Bobby Farrelly, from a script co-written by Peter Farrelly. It stars Jack Black as the literal Devil, who is accidentally conjured by a small child after they write a letter to “Satan” instead of “Santa.”

Is it any good? Well, the fact that it dropped on Paramount+ on a Monday doesn’t exactly seem like a great sign. 

But could Dear Santa possibly be worse than the Farrelly Brothers’ previous collaboration with Jack Black? 

In 2001, Black starred in the Farrellys’ Shallow Hal, about a superficial incel-ish jerk who gets hypnotized by (now disgraced) self-help guru Tony Robbins into seeing people’s “inner beauty.” So it’s a movie that endeavoured to promote body positivity by spending nearly two hours making repugnant fat jokes.

While promoting Dear Santa, the Farrelly Brothers were asked by Variety about Shallow Hall, specifically, Black’s recent comments distancing himself from the movie. Earlier this month, Black admitted that he “wasn’t proud” of Shallow Hal and, in retrospect, he feels “like a sell-out” for making it.

The Farrellys claimed that they were hearing about Black’s statement for the very first time, but recalled that his co-star, Gwyneth Paltrow, had said something similar once (she called Shallow Hal a “disaster”). But they don’t see anything wrong with the movie, and suggested that it plays just as well today as it did 23 years ago. “I think the movie was always coming from a good place,” Bobby Farrelly argued. “‘Don’t judge people by what they look like. Look what’s inside of them – that’s where the real beauty is.’ That was the point of the movie, and I think if you watch it now, It still says that.”

I mean, it does say that, but it also has a scene in which Paltrow’s character jumps into a swimming pool and creates a mini-tsunami that launches a small child into a tree. Like 90 percent of the movie’s humor is predicated on the idea that it’s funny to see a thin actress like Paltrow causing objects to tip over and/or break. Even putting its insensitivity aside, the whole thing was exhausting and unfunny. 

Farrelly’s defense of the film feels especially unconvincing in the wake of last year’s news that Paltrow’s body double from the film developed eating disorders after being bullied following the film’s release (she did praise the Farrellys for making her feel “really comfortable” on set). And by the way, Shallow Hal was controversial even back in 2001, with some critics noting that it was part of a trend of fatphobic Hollywood comedies that also included America’s Sweethearts, Big Momma’s House and Nutty Professor II: The Klumps. At the time, Black defended the film, telling Entertainment Weekly, “It’s pro-fat people!”

By contrast, nobody seems to be upset about anything in Dear Santa, possibly because hardly anyone knows it exists.