When the trailers came out they reminded me of the earlier film. Like that film, the premise is squirm-worthy. The idea of humour coming from a story about a women who (we are supposed to feel) isn't pretty thinking she is pretty is enough to make you go hmm. But no that's not what this film is about. The film ends up being squarely within the popular feminist-lite values of seeing beyond a woman's appearance for the amazing person she is inside. Yes it's formulaic, predictable, and never too outrageous, but it is also charming and adorable.
The film manages to come close to getting us to consider what beauty really is. It mostly errs on the side of cliche. She finds out that a supermodel also gets dumped and that confidence is the secret to attractiveness. Yes we even have sympathy for the poor little rich girl played by Michelle Williams. Amy learns about the pitfalls of treating her friends and love interests as less entitled. Generally the film falls into pretty cliched self-empowerment tropes. But there are moments where the film pushes some boundaries about where sex-appeal truly lies and the ways we create our relationships and in those moments the film gets even better.
But even with its schlocky rom-com formula the film remains entirely charming. Casting adorable Rory Scoval as the love interest was an inspired choice and generally the jokes are all pretty funny. There was a part of me that was just glad the humour wasn't as fat shaming or toxicly masculine as the premise might have allowed. But there was also a part of me which wished it had gone further and deconstructed beauty ideals more. Schumer can be edgy and I'd like to see her go down that road a bit more.
But for what it is, a funny and charming rom-com that at least errs on the side of a good, empowering message, I Feel Pretty pulls it off.
I Feel Pretty
Starring: Amy Schumer, Michelle Williams, Rory Scoval, Aidy Bryant, Busy Phillips, Lauren Hutton
Writers/Directors: Abby Kohn, Marc Silverstein
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