I Feel Pretty: Review

Amy Schumer, the Queen of Controversy, is best known for her raunchy style of comedy. Back in 2015 she made a breakthrough with her loosely self based comedy/drama Trainwreck alongside Bill Hader. Following her truly terrible mother/daughter buddy com Snatched last year, Schumer attempts another assault on Hollywood with body positive I Feel Pretty. Renne struggles with insecurity about her body and dreams of being "beautiful". After hitting her head against a cycling machine she wakes up believing she is the most gorgeous and confident girl in the world - enabling her to take on the world, making bold life choices and doing things she's only ever dreamed of.

Schumer's plus sized picture has its heart in the right place but over emphasises what it means to be of a bigger build. I Feel Pretty attempts to recreate the vibe of the frequently referenced 1988 classic Big, but lacks the cinema magic and the scriptwriting ability to do so. Sadly the writers give us no common ground between plus size and size zero - the film hints at portraying how bigger women are treated in society, yet here we see anyone with a fuller frame depicted as clumsy, frumpy, embarrassing and incapable - but at the other end of the spectrum skinny girls are presented as fashionable and glamorous but rude and spiteful. 

I Feel Pretty feels like it should be a story of self confidence, telling us that true beauty is found from within - yet  frustratingly this message is never truly delivered. The production team hammer home that bigger people are mistreated in society and use extreme and unrealistic social situations to illustrate so, resulting in negative plus sized propaganda, rather than a positive and empowering film about larger body confidence and fulfilment.

Whilst Schumer comically bashing her head on a cycling machine to give her self confidence is the  device used to craft the film, both I Feel Pretty and Schumer can't help but seem a little too delusion. Renne's charming self assurance is nothing short of admirable but it doesn't seem right that she should have to bump her head to realise she is as a capable as any other girl.

I Feel Pretty would've been a roaring success if it abandoned this idea of self delusion and told the story of how one larger girl had the charm, charisma and confidence to work her way up in the world against a typically skinnier workplace. Promoting equality for all women in the makeup and fashion industry would have been a far better if not fantastic concept for Schumer to re-establish herself and prove that anyone of any size can do anything.

Ultimately Schumer's charm and bubbly personality are certainly endearing, however it isn't enough to lift this inaccurate and surprisingly not feel good film to any decent level. It feels empty - lacking any form of story development, and sorely misses a comedic tone that simply isn't there. I would be wrong in saying the film isn't well intentioned, however I Feel Pretty is really - ironically - rather shallow. 

I Feel Pretty: 

Painful