Amy Schumer continues with her oh-so-cool-girl shtick in I Feel Pretty, a nominally funny twist on the Big/Freaky Friday-esque formula wherein a young woman named Renee (Schumer) injures her head, which somehow causes her to see herself as super good-looking while the rest of the world still perceives her as the perfectly normal, actually-probably-a-little-bit-more-attractive-than-most-people person she is.
Seems Renee's wildest dreams have been to attain unapproachable beauty. Dating's been rough, but her "normie" friends (a dimensionless Busy Philipps of Freaks and Geeks and the ultra-charming and tragically underused Aidy Bryant) have stood by her despite how she's not a supermodel. What good people they must be!
Anyway, once Renee thinks she's beautiful, her confidence skyrockets, landing her a cushy job at the makeup company where she works and a dorky-hot boyfriend named Ethan (Rory Scovel) with absolutely no character development whatsoever outside of a singular line about how he wants to be a cameraman. But even Rory spends his first few scenes being weirded out that Renee would be confident (y'know, because she's apparently hideous) before her winning personality tricks him into falling in love. The gorgeous family that helms the makeup empire also gives her a chance, though in a kind of mean-spirited way and more because they're launching a line aimed at women who shop at Target (y'know, who are apparently hideous and poor).
Of course, though, she sustains another blow to the head, sees herself regularly again and we're given a final act wherein she realizes the real problem was probably hers. Sacre bleu! But of course she was gonna learn to love herself. Obviously. What more adequately sums up film's problems is that almost anyone who interacts with Renee is, like, flabbergasted that she'd find herself attractive and isn't afraid to show it. And then they don't learn anything or change their ways. In fact, it seems they're really only psyched on her because she knows just how to market to everyday makeup consumers. Ugh.
From there on out, it's a beyond-predictable happy ending with a 40-second speech from Renee about how people really should be nicer to each other. OK, so there's obviously truth to that, and Michelle Williams is actually pretty funny as the CEO of the makeup empire. It's just that everyone else is so horrible, the jokes are so stale and the themes at play are so under-analyzed that one can't help but wonder what the point was. Stop judging people? Cool. Thanks, I guess.
6
+Couple funny moments; Aidy Bryant is the best
-Well-worn territory executed mildly and ineffectively
I Feel Pretty
Directed by Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein
With Schumer, Scovel, Williams, Bryant and Philipps
Violet Crown, Regal, PG-13, 110 min.
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