Shallow Hal (2001) review

I'm still trying to figure out how to take this one: either the Farrelly's are growing up, or they're just pretending to grow up, or it's something else - the basic premise of hack-guru Tony Robbins 'brainwashing' Hal (Jack Black) into seeing only 'inner beauty' is either a joke in itself (come on: Tony Robbins?) or to be taken as screenwriting/comedy quirk. Has an amusing side to it, and it's probably the best Farrelly Brothers film they've made to date (Kingpin, There's Something About Mary, Dumb & Dumber and whatever else being total junk), though the 'we're all freaks inside' stuff and the endless parade of the deformed raise questions about motives and juvenile snickering. It's got the same (basic) message as Shrek, and less painful to sit through.