Movie Review - I Feel Pretty

I Feel Pretty **½ (out of 5) (PG-13) Amy Schumer’s latest foray into romantic comedy turns out to be a mixed bag of virtues and shortcomings. It’s written and directed by the team of Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein, whose prior collaborations include the likes of Never Been Kissed and How to be Single on the comedy side, and a romantic drama, The Vow. All were fair-to-middling efforts, establishing a mathematical theorem: one Kohn + one Silverstein does not equal one Judd Apatow, at least at this stage of their respective careers.

Schumer stars as a frumpy drone for a high-fashion cosmetics firm. Instead of working in their gorgeous main office where all the beautiful people prance and preen, she and another geek toil in a dingy, remote warehouse, consigned to website duties. She yearns to experience life as one of the beautiful people she idealizes. In a similar fashion to Big and other body-switching or consciousness-changing films, a bang on the head delivers the delusion of transformative beauty, which persists despite all physical evidence to the contrary.

This belief imbues Schumer with boundless new self-confidence that fortunately coincides with the company’s downmarket venture into a line of products for patrons of the Targets and Wal-Marts. Schumer’s experience among the non-glamorous masses allows her to give the honchos (Michelle Williams, Lauren Hutton) valuable perspectives on design and marketing. Their praise reinforces her delusion of having morphed from caterpillar to butterfly. The upside includes attracting a new beau (Rory Scovel); the downside is alienation from her longtime pals (Aidy Bryant, Busy Philipps a/k/a Mrs. Silverstein).

Eventually, the fantasy comes to an end, forcing Schumer into the emotional bummer phase the genre requires before the formulaic rebound to a higher state of consciousness. The script serves fewer laughs than Schumer’s previous features, and the premise is hard to swallow or sustain for as long its leading lady remains under the spell. Williams actually delivers the best comic performance. Since I’ve only seen Scovel play an assortment of sitcom jerks and losers, his fine turn as a far more likable character here is particularly gratifying. For Schumer, this product is another sail through familiar waters.

Despite feeling some irritation and disappointment from the first 90 minutes, the denouement rallied engagingly, with a valuable, if heavy-handed, message that upgraded the rocky path to the finish line. The film offers elements of humor, eye-candy and satire, but it’s nothing special that cries for attention before home-market release. (4/20/18)