I Feel Pretty (2018)

(Netflix Streaming, December 2019) There is an insanely risky bet at the heart of I Feel Pretty that will either make or break the film, and it boils down to whether you will enjoy seeing Amy Schumer pretend that she’s an unattractive woman for more than ninety minutes. The abrasive comedian may not be the model of a rail-thin actress, but she is—at worst—Hollywood homely, the likes of which would be considered good-looking in real life. (The best line anyone has ever said about Schumer is Jennifer Lawrence, upon learning that Schumer considered her “the hottest ideal version of herself,” saying, “you’re not ugly enough, and I’m not hot enough to pull these jokes off.”)  I Feel Pretty, however, is that joke, except with Emily Ratajkowski instead of Lawrence as the protagonist (Schumer) suffers a head injury that convinces her that she’s suddenly her own ideal of beauty and proceeds with the consequent self-confidence to score a job, a boyfriend and several life lessons—especially when the effect wears off. The premise is probably the weakest part of the film—the best sequences simply show two people beginning a sometimes-awkward romance, with all the tentative steps, feints, self-doubt and exhilaration that this implies. There’s a half-hearted attempt at a romantic rivalry that goes nowhere, along with a lot of cruder material that plays in Schumer’s comfort zone and no one else’s. She’s the lead here—to the point where it’s possible to wonder if anyone ever tried to rein her in during the film’s production. From this movie and others, it’s clear the Schumer is a gifted performer—but when she writes her own material, she tends to showboat or create an unconvincing pity party. As such, I Feel Pretty is middling material, a bit frustrating because of the very mixed messages it sends (even in satire, it does remain a prisoner of beauty standards as a shortcut to confidence, ability or charisma—it never seriously questions those assumptions) and the glimpses at a far better movie smothered in between the rest of the material. After similar issues with Trainwreck and Snatched, I’d be more curious to see Schumer in a supporting role, preferably in a script where she doesn’t have creative input.