‘I Feel Pretty’ has that Cinderella sheen
The romantic comedy I Feel Pretty strives to be a modern fairy tale about an insecure woman realizing her worth, though it’s the movie itself that suffers from a crisis of confidence.
Amy Schumer stars as a New Yorker whose crippling self-esteem issues get cleared up courtesy of head trauma in the directorial debut of Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein, the screenwriting team behind Never Been Kissed. I Feel
Pretty ( ★★g☆; rated PG-13; in theaters nationwide Friday) offers aspirational touches that match the “Get it, girl” shirt sported by Schumer’s character, but the mostly feel-good cinematic parable often has trouble finding balance between goofball humor and earnest message.
Renee Bennett (Schumer) works on the very unglamorous digital side of high-profile Manhattan cosmetics giant Lily LeClaire. Her dream is to get out of her Chinatown basement desk job and, though technically it’s a demotion, become a receptionist at the Fifth Avenue headquarters, a position reserved for an “undeniably pretty” kind of girl. Her mood spirals downward with frequent body-shaming and general gym malaise when surrounded by toned physiques, leading to a desperate late-night wish to be beautiful while watching Big.
From there it’s a Hallucinderella story: Her next SoulCycle class ends with a nasty fall, and when she wakes up she checks herself in the mirror and sees a Kardashian-like hottie. Although nobody else notices a difference in her looks, Renee does, leading to a strutting, super-
positive new attitude that both befuddles and impresses love interest Ethan (Rory Scovel), boss Avery LeClaire (Michelle Williams) and eligible bachelor Grant LeClaire (Tom Hopper).
Schumer doesn’t reach quite the highs of her Trainwreck work — that movie perfectly nailed a happy medium between comedy and drama, while Pretty leans dour early on until Renee has her epic spin-cycle fail. But everything, from narrative momentum to Schumer’s own performance, picks up afterward: There’s a definite satisfaction watching supermodel types squirm when they can’t derail Renee’s cheery blind confidence, and her courtship with Ethan is a riot of mixed messages and bikini contests.
The movie tweaks the fantastical nature of films like Shallow Hal and 13 Going on 30, though this sort of message-y transformation feels out of place in today’s climate of female empowerment and body positivity. That “feeling pretty” would be the key to life falling into place is a dated conceit, more Pygmalion and My Fair Lady than Me Too and Time’s Up. I Feel Pretty avoids inviting rancor by offering equal-opportunity insecurity: Avery is an off-putting, awkward sort hampered by a Betty Boop voice, Ethan rocks an unassuming, non-macho personality, and even Renee’s comely workout buddy Mallory (Emily Ratajkowski) struggles with self-doubt.
Some choices are more headscratching, like a wholly unnecessary sequence with Renee interrupting her co-worker (Adrian Martinez) in the bathroom. One rousing empowerment speech veers perilously close to pandering, and Busy Philipps and Aidy Bryant are underutilized as Renee’s girlfriends, who bring their pal back down to Earth when she gets a little too full of herself. But the movie does remind that Lauren Hutton, as Lily LeClaire herself, is still the epitome of cool.
Hutton turns out to be a perfect bit of stunt casting: Her history as a model who is ultimately helped and not hindered by the gap in her front teeth complements Pretty’s core theme of owning one’s groove and individual beauty.