Shallow Hal: More Than Meets the Eye (or Just Plain Bad?)

Okay, I'm going to wade into the potentially toxic waters of "Shallow Hal." I know, I know, it's a Farrelly Brothers flick from the early 2000s. Hardly high art. But I've been thinking about it lately, and I'm wondering if there's a slightly deeper reading available, even if it's unintentional. My theory? Hal's 'inner beauty' vision isn't about seeing inner beauty at all. It's about projecting his own idealized version onto the women he dates. Think about it: he's already shallow, right? So suddenly seeing Gwyneth Paltrow (in fat suit, mind you) as some goddess of perfection... isn't that just him finding a socially acceptable way to project his desires? He's not actually seeing her inner qualities, but manufacturing a fantasy based on the idea of a good person. It's like he's using Tony Robbins' hypnotism as an excuse to rewrite reality to fit his pre-existing (albeit newly 'enlightened') biases. The scene where he's initially repulsed by her eating habits, then suddenly 'sees' her glowing with compassion? That felt so forced, so utterly him trying to convince himself. And that's where it gets a bit... interesting, maybe? Because the film, I think, is accidentally critiquing the very idea of 'inner beauty' as another form of objectification. Instead of appreciating the actual person, Hal is simply replacing one set of superficial criteria (physical appearance) with another (his idea of a perfect personality). It's still about what he wants, what he perceives. Maybe this is giving the Farrelly Brothers too much credit, I'm not completely sure. Look, I'm not saying this makes it a 'good' film. It's still often cringey and problematic. But the underlying mechanism of Hal's transformation, the how of it, suggests a more cynical (and possibly more accurate) take on human perception than the film probably intended. I kinda think it highlights the performative aspect of virtue, like he is trying to be good more than he actually is being good. Just a half-baked theory from me, anyway. What do you guys think? Am I reaching here?