Miscellany: The "Ugly Betty" Effect and the "Shallow Hal" counterexample

I guess the first time I noticed the phenomenon was in the forgettable late '90s teen flick "She's All That." For some bizarre reason, Rachel Leigh Cook was cast in the role of the "unattractive" Laney Boggs in the film, which was supposed to be a sorta-remake of "Pygmalion." The problem was that Ms. Cook was a looker compared to her female antagonist, at least to my teenage male eyes.

Then the next instance was with the American version of the show "Ugly Betty," and its entire premise. Supposedly, by frumping up America Ferrera with braces and glasses, she's suddenly "ugly" (or at least not fashionable). Again, it doesn't really work...I suppose in order to work as an actress nowadays in Hollywood, you have to look attractive by default, so even when a TV show or movie tries to showcase an "ugly" person (seriously or in jest) they rarely succeed. Combine that with my feeling that how a person thinks, speaks, and acts is more important than how they look, and you have a recipe for malaise.

One exception I've found to the above rule was in the movie "Shallow Hal." Though I ultimately disliked the movie (as did Gwyneth "named her kid Apple" Paltrow and Jack Black), I appreciate that the Farrelly brothers didn't cop out and pair Black's character with an attractive Paltrow at the end. Instead, he gets Paltrow playing a several hundred pound woman in a fat suit. Meh - close enough.