“Shallow Hal” and “What Women Want”

Good movies often make you think deeper or even absolutely change you views on topics they are about. “Shallow Hal” and “What Women Want” are the movies I find particularly interesting, moreover I think they are similar in their idea to some extend. The key similarities and differences of these amusing movies are curious to know by all means.

The first point it is necessary to compare is the fantastic aspect which is present in both movies. In “Shallow Hal” the main character is given a magic and somewhat weird aptitude by a famous hypnotizer. Now Hal (Jack Black) can see not only the appearance of girls (as he used to do before), but their inner world ”“ all the kind and good-natured girls are gorgeously looking in his eyes and all the hypocritical and shallow ladies are presented as ugly ones to him. In “What Women Want” Nick (Mel Gibson) gets the wonderful aptitude of hearing what women think and that absolutely changes his life.

Another similarity lies in the main idea of both movies ”“ finally both Hal and Nick learn how to treat women as they are. They start seeing their personality first of all and only then their appearance.

The love stories in the movies are much alike. The main characters finally fall in love with nice girls, whom they see as they are.

One of the differences of these movies is that Nick had a family of him and his daughter, while Hal had only one friend. Nick’s daughter supported her father in every way, while Hal’s best friend tired to make the things turn back.

It is also interesting that Nick’s girlfriend was really pretty; moreover she was a very nice person. The lady Hal fell in love with was easy-going and just, smart and funny, but her appearance was not ideal at all.

And the key difference is that the main character of “What Women Want” hardly had any psychological problems in his childhood which could affect his personality greatly, meanwhile Hal had some. When he was a small boy his father before his death told him the rules he should choose his future wife according to: the girl should be pretty first of all and all the other characteristics don’t matter. Probably that event predetermined the future model of behavior of Hal. As for Nick, his behavior was probably caused by his popularity among beautiful women due to his appealing appearance and easy-going disposition.

“Shallow Hal” and ”˜What Women Want” are very amusing and interesting comedies which have much in common: magic aptitudes the main characters were lucky to get, key idea of teaching Hal and Nick how to treat people and particularly women and love aspects of the movies. However there are some differences too: the appearance of girlfriends of the main characters, different people supporting Hal and Nick and, of course, the psychological backgrounds for their light-heated and mean behavior.