The Farrelly Brothers turn agents for the small-time actors on the DVD release of their latest comedy gross-out "Shallow Hal".

TECHNICAL FEATURES

Picture Bright and inviting, this transfer looks great.

Sound The 5.1 sound mix is an enveloping track that gets you right into the centre of the action with good solid bass support for the club scene, and amusing directional effects to heighten the madness.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Audio Commentary Pete and Bob Farrelly seem to be doubling up as agents for bit-part actors in this commentary. Anyone with a small part is given a brief career synopsis and a hearty recommendation for further employment. It's quite sweet and you get an insight into some of the background faces that populate Hollywood flicks.

In particular there's Dan Greene who has a small role as a doctor in the film. Turns out he gave up acting years ago and works in the DIY store, Home Depot. He comes out of retirement though for any Farrelly Brothers picture.

HBO Special HBO should look up what the word special means - it's very possible they were mislead on how it should be used... This 13-minute featurette is the usual cast and crew interviews where they chat about plot and characters. To be fair, a little effort has been made by interviewing real people on the streets about whether they're shallow or not, and using those pieces to insert between the promotional fluff. It's hardly revealing material though, but we do get to learn that one average joe dumped a girl because she "wouldn't give me some play". She was right on the money with that decision!

Reel Comedy The Comedy Central channel present their own behind-the-scenes 21-minute take on the film and, as usual, they make the experience a laborious one. The one item of interest is that fat ankles are actually called cankles.

Deleted Scenes There's some amusing deleted material to be found here including quite a subtle bed gag that's worth seeking out. Optional commentary is provided.

Seeing through the Layers Just how fat should Gwyneth Paltrow be for this movie? That was the dilemma pondered the Farrelly Brothers, and initially they turned her into a right blimp, but then the word came from above that the studio wanted the audience to be able to recognise that Gwyneth was buried in there.

In at the Deep End with Shallow Hal This is a two-minute quickie where we see behind-the-scenes footage on how the pool gag was executed.

Additional Extra Features Also on the DVD are music videos and a trailer.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION:
Region: 2
Chapters: 28
Ratio: 1.85:1 (anamorphic)
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Audio Tracks: English
Subtitles: English and multiple languages
Captions: English
Menus: Animated with music
Special Features Subtitles: All the special features (including the commentary tracks for the main feature and deleted scenes) come with English subtitles, apart from the trailer and the music video.

This DVD was reviewed on a JVC XV-S57 DVD player.