I Feel Pretty

Starring: Amy Schumer, Michelle Williams, Tom Hopper, Rory Scovel, Adrian Martinez, Emily Ratajkowski, Aidy Bryant, Busy Phillips, Lauren Hutton, Naomi Campbell, Dave Attell, Nikki Glaser
Directed by: Abby Kohn, Marc Silverstein
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy
2018

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A woman (Amy Schumer) with low self-esteem hits her head and suddenly believes she's gorgeous.

Review:

Tim: I Feel Pretty isn't an especially funny comedy, but there are a few decent moments sprinkled throughout this film. Even better, there is a positive message for women in the story. Although I wished the movie was better, it wasn't terrible, either. In the end, this is an okay movie.

I know we need to suspend disbelief here, but it was a little odd that the movie is about a woman walking around with what has to be a pretty severe head injury. Nevermind how unlikely the whole scenario is, but an undiagnosed injury like this could result in pretty severe trauma. I was okay with this, until (SPOILER ALERT), the main character gets another head injury, which reverses the original one. Despite early on paying homage to Big, this reversal doesn't work here. It feels like a device that was overused in the 1980s, and people stopped using it in films because we actually learned how the brain works. What is depicted in this movie is impossible and in 2018, the writers should have known better.

Let's just go with the premise, despite it being weak and ludicrous. There's some positive messages inherent in this story. You have to look past the illogical aspects of the film, but this is a movie that really tries to convey that you (and women especially) are beautiful no matter what they look like. I do think this is a very positive message, especially when society goes so far out of its way to convince women there's a "right" way to look and if they don't look like that, they are ugly. That's the best part of the movie- that every woman should be confident and happy with who they are. They don't need to prove anything to anyone or work to be "good enough". I really liked that positive message.

Amy Schumer was decent in the lead role. She was well cast and certainly brings her trademark brand of comedy to the film. I like Schumer and I had fun watching her here. Her performance is significantly better than in last year's awful Snatched. Schumer works well because she's so committed to the role and isn't afraid to look ridiculous. Now, I was ecstatic when I saw Michelle Williams was in this film. Williams is a great actress, but she was given a terrible part. Her most distinguishing characteristic is her incredibly annoying voice. I give Williams credit for being annoying, but her performance felt too forced and uncomfortable. It didn't feel natural. When you take the strongest member of your cast and hamper her in this way, that is certifiably a bad idea. I lamented that Williams wasn't able to showcase her talent here. Tom Hopper was fine in his role. I enjoyed Rory Scovel's performance. He made an unlikely love interest for Schumer, but he was so effective in the role. He was legitimately likeable and I had great fun watching him. Adrian Martinez added a solid supporting performance, and Emily Ratajkowski surprised me by not being terrible. Aidy Bryant and Busy Phillips were fine in their supporting roles. The cast as a whole was fine.

While the film has a solid message, the movie as a whole felt too one-trick to me. All the gags really center around this "normal" girl who suddenly believes she is beautiful. There's something a little uncomfortable about us laughing at someone who the movie kind of hints at isn't beautiful, but mistakenly believes she is. Still, in the end, the message comes through. There's a few decent laughs throughout the movie, but I wouldn't say this was an especially strong aspect of the film.

I Feel Pretty is fine as a movie, but it's not a film I would look forward to revisiting. There's a few aspects of the film I enjoyed, but the film is disappointing.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



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