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Image credit: Gwyneth Paltrow: Glenn Watson

BIG DEAL The Farrelly brothers get their arms -- but not their minds -- around Paltrow (in fat suit)

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Paltrow, understandably, takes a different view of the film's outrageous humor: She thinks it challenges the audience's preconceptions. ''I don't feel that it's at all offensive,'' she says, noting that her body double gave the movie an enthusiastic thumbs-up. ''The Farrelly brothers walk this line very gently, and instead of really poking fun at fat people, they said, Hey, this is something that society feels, and we're going to turn it upside down and try to make people not feel that way.''

But Smith isn't buying Paltrow's explanation. She says that the actress' decision to don a fat suit is in itself a slap in the face to heavy women. ''It's really no different from [a white actor] putting on blackface,'' she says. ''She has no real experience as a woman of size.'' Paltrow, who is 5'9'' and slender, counters that she did try to live like a large woman, if only for a little while, by wearing her fat suit in the lobby of her hotel. ''I was really nervous about being found out, but when I actually walked through the lobby, nobody would even make eye contact with me or look in my direction,'' she says. ''People think it's polite not to look at someone who's outside of what we all consider normal, but it's incredibly isolating and it really upset me.''

Still, Smith feels the sweet message Paltrow applauds in ''Hal'' could have been delivered just as easily without showing Rosemary's XXL underwear and her french-fry-and-chili-cheeseburger chowdowns. ''It just continues the cycle of women being obsessed with their weight,'' Smith says. ''With all due respect to Gwyneth Paltrow's work, I don't think she gets it.''

Originally posted Nov 02, 2001

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