Film Review - I Feel Pretty (12A)

I've always wondered what it feels like to be - just - undeniably pretty.

It says much about Amy Schumer's credit within film comedy that she features solo on the I Feel Pretty poster. No, she hasn't reached Melissa McCarthy status just yet, but she's still trusted enough to feature as a movie's key selling point. Even a pre-release media backlash in America, based on the film's (fundamentally misunderstood) trailer, didn't manage to dampen US box office receipts too much. This girl is good, even when the movie in which she stars doesn't match her for quality. 

The intentions of I Feel Pretty are worthy ones, but the premise is as flimsy as premises get. Schumer plays Renee Bennett, a website designer for massive cosmetics company Lily LeClaire. She's capable at her job and popular among her friends, but deeply insecure about her appearance, longing for the kind of look that would land her a receptionist job in the big LeClair building downtown. Then some desperate wishing and a whack on the head during a SoulCycle class (I looked it up and it's a proper thing in 2018 gym circles - what do I know?) alter her perception, so that she sees herself as fashion-industry beautiful. Soon she's taking on the world with supermodel confidence, despite still looking like the same old girl-next-door Renee. 

This paper-thin concept is stretched out to feature-length, with no regard to its sheer psychological implausibility and the plot holes that threaten to open up at any given moment. Thank heaven then for Schumer's sheer comic zest and everywoman charm. Her timing is spot-on, her physical comedy fearless - gloriously so. The transformation from downtrodden backroom-girl to life-embracing goddess is undeniably infectious as a result. She manages what the script is striving in a severely faltering way to do, namely prove that confidence and self-belief have an attractiveness more potent than anything sold by the beauty industry. 

She has good support in Rory Scovel as Ethan, the regular guy who falls for her. Their scenes are played with genuine heart, and there's enjoyment to be found in the two of them falling for each other, his interest fuelled by her new devil-may-care mojo. And the whole thing is directed nimbly enough too, a highlight being when Renee struts into the LeClair building to Meghan Trainor's Who's That Sexy Thing? in slo-mo. Then the music cuts out, regular-mo is resumed and there she is still dancing apropos of nothing but joy. 

See? At its best it's fun. But it's also fundamentally nonsense. The plot is packaged, naturally, so that Renee will come through her dream state, have a quick wrestle with reality on the other side and achieve her victory on behalf of women (and men for that matter) with body-image issues everywhere. But the journey is so broadly comic that it can't do more in the end than deliver a bunch of well-meaning platitudes. And while there are a few sideswipes at the cosmetic industry along the way, they don't show real claws. 

The knee-jerk critics who condemned the film as 'fat-shaming' on evidence of that trailer got it totally wrong. I Feel Pretty is an honest shot at promoting healthy-minded body-image, with Schumer owning every scene to raucous (and sometimes touching) effect. But ultimately it's all a bit too fluffy and unfocused to land its ideological punch.

Gut Reaction: It did make me laugh, and both leads moved me with funny, emotionally authentic performances, even if the ending was something of a shrug.

Where Are the Women?: Aside from Amy, Michelle Williams does some good comedy stuff with limited scope as the LeClair heiress with confidence issues of her own. Renee's likeable gal-pals are even less developed, sadly.

Ed's Verdict: 6/10. It's raised to 'disposable fun' level by Schumer's comedy instincts and the chemistry with her guy. Now get this woman a sharper script.