I never thought I'd be saying this about a Farrelly brothers movie, but "Shallow Hal" erred too much on the side of good taste for me to really loosen my belt and let rip with the belly laughs. It's almost as if by wanting us to like it so much they've held back on the more tasteless humour we've come to expect.

The film is rather like a large chocolate cake in that it's both sweet and full of fat. In fact you could say that the Farrellys both have their cake and eat it. On the one hand, it's a movie that says let's look past the surface, but on the other this leaves them free to show us shot after shot of beautiful ultra-fit, cellulite-free scantily-clad women bending over!

Having said that the performances are good, in particular Gwyneth Paltrow, who really does suggest that sweet-natured but strong, guarded character that one supposes would develop if you'd spent a lifetime being cruelly laughed at. I suspect many of you will go along just to see the prospect of such a classic lovely in a fat suit, so perhaps I should report that while the body is convincing enough, for some reason they've gone overboard on her face, which looks rather like it's buried inside a large latex pillow, suggesting not so much an oversized Gwyneth as a regular-sized Bernard Manning. Somewhat off-putting fellas.

But as sweet fables go, "Shallow Hal" was very enjoyable - a deliciously stupid high-concept film.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites.