Review: I Feel Pretty

In this day and age when one is bombarded by airbrushed, retouched, surgically enhanced, and idealised images and articles and video blogs on what one needs to look like and the size to be in order to be considered beautiful, it's no wonder that people are often their own worst enemy. Take Renee Bennett (Amy Schumer), a voluptuous and attractive woman whose self-image has been warped by such societal conditioning that her insecurities have become part of her DNA.

Renee has two wonderful and supportive best friends in Jane and Vivian (Busy Phillips and Aidy Bryant), but a terrible job managing the website of a major cosmetics company, Lily LeClaire, from some cramped, subterranean office space in Chinatown. She yearns to work in the company's Fifth Avenue headquarters, but doesn't even bother applying as she doesn't feel she can compete with the arguably sentient mannequins that roam about the fashionably sleek environs. "I've always wondered what it feels like to be undeniably pretty," she wistfully tells a supermodel acquaintance (Emily Ratajkowksi) at the gym and, after she falls and bangs her head during a spin class, Renee gets her wish.

In Big, which I Feel Pretty unabashedly references, a young boy gets his chance to experience what it's like to be big, remaining his twelve-year-old self whilst inhabiting the body of a thirty-year-old man. I Feel Pretty cleverly tweaks that premise - Renee suddenly wakes up believing herself to be beautiful even though nothing about her appearance has changed. Her confidence makes her feel beautiful, puts a swagger in her step, and motivates her to go after what she wants, whether it be a super nice guy (Rory Scovel), a bikini-contest award, or her dream job as receptionist at Lily LeClaire's head office, where her insights into the latest product line's target demographic earns her the trust and admiration of the brand's CEO, Avery LeClaire (Michelle Williams). Unfortunately, Renee's elevated sense of self-worth begins to turn her into a condescending and judgmental sort, soon alienating her from her loved ones.

I Feel Pretty executes its conceit very well, though perhaps some may feel that it doesn't go far enough in its criticism of the superficiality in which we live, or that it somehow tries to have its cake and eat it too, with Renee espousing body positivity whilst also hawking beauty products to help consumers achieve that positivity. Yet that dichotomy has always been part and parcel of Schumer's persona, and not only does she mine it for comic gold but for dramatic effect to boot.

Yet let's not lie to ourselves. Though Schumer is the headliner and I Feel Pretty is her vehicle, the true star of the show is Williams. Like Tilda Swinton in Schumer's breakthrough film, Trainwreck, the usually serious actress shows a wholly different side to herself as Avery, who is so self-conscious of her squeaky baby doll voice that she hardly ever thinks about what she says but is desperate to be taken seriously by her grandmother (Lauren Hutton), who is the company's founder. Williams is an absolute delight - one's eyes are clamped on her whenever she appears onscreen and she and Schumer share such an enjoyable dynamic that one wishes writers-directors Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein had fashioned more scenes for them to appear in together.

I Feel Pretty

Directed by: Abby Kohn, Marc Silverstein

Written by: Abby Kohn, Marc Silverstein

Starring: Amy Schumer, Michelle Williams, Tom Hopper, Rory Scovel, Adrian Martinez, Emily Ratajkowski, Aidy Bryant, Busy Phillips, Lauren Hutton, Sasheer Zamata, Olivia Culpo, Naomi Campbell