A powerful point about beauty in today’s society is solidly made with Amy Schumer’s latest, I Feel Pretty. It is not necessarily subtle, yet not astutely heavy-handed. What it is is wildly entertaining and light-heartedly enlightening. The think-comedy has arrived on DVD, Blu-Ray and digital download.
I Feel Pretty is leagues better than her previous effort—Snatched—and not quite as solid as Trainwreck.
Schumer is Renee Bennett, a woman living in Manhattan who has a solid job and is by all appearances, happy. But it becomes clear that she suffers a bit of low self-confidence. She has friends who adore her and instill her with everything BFFs are supposed to do for comrades. Busy Philips’ Jane and SNL star Aidy Bryant’s Vivian get together, gab, go out and generally are each other’s solid support system.
Thing is, after a night out, Renee comes home and takes off her clothes getting ready for bed. When she gets down to her spanx, the look on the comedic actress’ face says it all as she gazes at a mirror in her apartment. All the support in the world won’t make up for the just plain wrong, created by society, eye-glasses she looks through as the image in the mirror reflects back at her. It is as if the air has left the room.
It’s not like she is not trying to do something about it.
In fact, she is at the gym in the following scene when Renee has some sense knocked into her as she falls off the spin class bike and bumps her head… hard! When she comes to, she is taken to the locker room by gym staff to assess her and if she needs any help. In fact, it is just the opposite. She has never been better. This time the mirror reflection is telling her brain something completely different. Renee says with a shock and awe in her eyes, “I’m beautiful!”
Countless studies have shown that people who exhibit confidence inside and out are perceived to be more attractive, intelligent, powerful and desirable by both sexes on many levels. Those scientific facts are put to use in the most entertaining of ways with I Feel Pretty as we see first-hand how this all-too important change in perception is all Renee needs to get a promotion, a love interest and generally, have all the things on her life list that were question marks miraculously changed to exclamation points.
Two people enter her life and elevate it profoundly, all stemming from Renee’s buoyant boost in self-assurance. That love interest arrives in the form of Ethan (Rory Scovel). Professionally, career help comes from Michelle Williams’ Avery LeClaire, a fashion maven who sees something in Renee that has her shooting up her company’s ranks. Both characters are bookends to an elevation of character that is fascinating. See, it was always there… it simply took a bump on the head to knock away the doubt and grab the self-love by the lapels and yank it to the forefront of Renee’s personality.
I Feel Pretty makes quite a statement that young girls, heck women of all ages, need to hear (and see). It is something that needs to be seen and appreciated by both genders because it would behoove men to witness the mental hoops that the opposite sex experience based on something that seems so frivolous (well, it should be frivolous).
Schumer is divine, and no one could carry off this cinematic mental metamorphosis in a thought-provoking and laugh-producing manner as she accomplishes with her latest comedy. Most effective societal change emerges best when it the receiver is completely unaware that the altering message is being delivered. That is why comedies work so well in achieving this feat. Not to compare I Feel Pretty to Dr. Strangelove, but how much of the anti-nuke message changed minds when folks saw Peter Sellers working his hilarious movie magic in a film that delivered on the laughs (and the societal commentary)?
With the stand-up comedienne as the vehicle, the story from writer-directors Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein (Never Been Kissed) is able to blossom organically in such a way that the far-out concept that we’ve seen before (hitting heads have a long movie history of producing change in characters) freshly resonates. Schumer is beyond charming as Renee, and there are legions of people who can relate to her predicament every time they gaze into that often-evil reflecting device known as the mirror. She has killer chemistry with everyone, especially her pals, Scovel and in the best scenes in the entire movie, Williams’ LeClaire.
We have never seen the Oscar winning actress so sublime. Williams needs to do more comedies if she gets the opportunity. It is a small, supporting role, and one that has us cheering for her fifth Oscar nod. It is unreal the command over this soul that comes from where we have no idea but hope that Williams returns to that well repeatedly.
For more on the film itself, check out our theatrical I Feel Pretty review.
There are limited bonus features, such as deleted scenes (that clock in at just under nine minutes) and a gag reel. The latter is five-and-a-half-minutes of pure joy. One can tell that the cast was extremely close, as they collectively felt free to let it all hang out—something that adds up to some priceless “gags” as anyone knows who has witnessed as many gag reels as this writer!
The sole “making-of” clip is a fascinating one, Being Pretty: Featurette. The cast answers a question that could not be more pertinent to the themes of the movie itself and hearing the answers from all involved is truly something else and an exercise in honesty. The discussion: What does it mean to feel pretty?” The movie itself gives its viewer such questions. It is with the purest of hopes, that after witnessing Schumer’s latest, people’s answers to that inquiry will have moved from where they were prior to experiencing I Feel Pretty.
Film Grade: B+
Bonus Features: B