Shallow Hal
Shallow Hal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Hal's co-workers bring him a cake for his promotion, Rosemary takes a slice out for herself. They change shots a couple times, and the size of the piece missing from the cake changes several times, and the layers of the cake change as well.

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Hal and his best friend are having a chat at the bar, Hal's best friend's beer refills after every scene when he takes a drink of it. (00:06:50)

Shallow Hal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Hal is confronting the two guys that made fun of Rosie he points to Rosie outside the restaurant and her shoes change from brown and black clogs (which is what she was wearing throughout the scene) to a plain black slide. Watch, it is totally obvious because they show her shoes several times before they suddenly change.

Continuity mistake: At the DoubleDoor Inn, where Rosie is seen dancing with the guy with spina bifida, we see the other guests applaud and approach them once they have finished dancing. And if you look closely you will see that Hal joins the crowd at the right hand side of your screen. But as it cuts to the next shot where Rosie is walking away from the crowd, we see Hal catch up with her from the opposite side where he was standing with the crowd.

Shallow Hal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: After Rosemary cuts the cake, she lays the knife down and in the next few shots the knife changes position from laying down to sitting up back to laying down again.

Continuity mistake: This mistake happens when Rosemary and Hal make up for the first time. Rosemary is standing in the doorway and she is holding a tray containing two coffees. As the shots goes from Hal to Rosemary, you can clearly see the coffees switch sides on the tray. (00:44:30)

Continuity mistake: In the first club scene, Jason Alexander is dancing with a swaying woman, behind them is a woman wearing a headband and sleeveless pink top; as the camera pans around the corner to Hal's new dance partner who is holding on to the railings, the same girl with a headband is dancing next to them, only this time with a different guy.

Continuity mistake: After two men insult Rosemary, Hal goes back into the restaurant. In one shot the restaurant door is nearly closed behind him, shot change and the door is much wider open. (00:30:55)

Hamster

Revealing mistake: When Rosemary is carrying Hal out of the front door if you look closely at his shirt you can see it moving around from the wires that are keeping him suspended. (01:40:00)

Revealing mistake: At the end of the film when Hal and Rosemary reunite, Rosemary hugs Hal. In one shot, you can see Paltrow's thin hands, and beneath her shirt sleeve, the end of her fat suit's arm.

Continuity mistake: When Hal is visiting Rosemary's parents for the first time, right before they start to eat, it is dark outside with crickets chirping everywhere. But when they start eating, you can easily see sunlight through the windows and all over the dining room.

Continuity mistake: When Hal is talking to his best friend in the gym when his best friend talks about "cankles," the machine weights in the back change numbers from frame to frame.

Continuity mistake: After Hal asks Katrina on a date, and he thinks she's messing him about, Katrina takes a pen from her bag. In one shot she holds the pen so the nib is upright with no lid on, yet in the next shot she is holding it the other way round, and the lid is on. (00:19:45)

Hamster

Continuity mistake: When Rosemary breaks the bench in the 4-star restaurant, her dress goes up, and she's wearing either a dark blue or black g-string; but in the next scene, when she's getting up, her g-string is red.

Continuity mistake: When Jack and Dave are talking about the promotion, in a shot behind Dave, Dave has his hand raised, but in a front shot his hand is down on the table. (00:09:55)

Hamster

Continuity mistake: After the elevator stops, Tony puts his right hand on the top of Hal's arm but when the shot changes it is on Hal's shoulder. (00:12:50)

Hamster

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Hal puts the petroleum jelly on his face, the amount and location of it changes frequently from shot to shot.

Continuity mistake: When you first see Rosemary's friend Lee Boy as his true self he has a noticeable mark on the left side of his face. Towards the end of the film it looks as though the film has been reversed because the mark is now on the right side.

Visible crew/equipment: When Hal goes outside after his special "seminar" in the elevator with Tony Robbins, he hails a taxi and walks over to open the door when he notices that a woman is also opening the door. As the shot pans back from the taxi and he is apologizing to her, you can clearly see a boom microphone reflected in the triangular window, moving back and forth. (00:17:00)

Hamster

Jill: Hal... I'm not attracted to you.
Hal: So what? What, you think that everyone who goes out are always attracted to each other? Get real.

More quotes from Shallow Hal

Trivia: Brianna Gardner, who played Cadence the little burn victim girl, is the daughter of the movie's makeup artist Tony Gardner. She can be seen with him in the movie's closing credits.

Jeff Swanson

More trivia for Shallow Hal

Question: For years I've wondered about the scene where Hal meets Rosemary's doctor friend Dr. Sahid (in the children's hospital). Unless there's a cut or deleted scene I'm not familiar with, there's no relevance to the plot with meeting the doctor since he's never seen in the rest of the movie (therefore not knowing if his real appearance is different) - everyone else in the whole movie that Hal never met before ends up with a different appearance after the spell wears off (including men). Can anyone answer this?

Answer: I think he was in the movie to reinforce that she is a genuinely nice person and that she had a wide circle of friends who appreciated her.

More questions & answers from Shallow Hal

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