Much like other Amy Schumer films the punchline and butt of the joke is her weight and the ‘empowering’ (and perceived as feminist) bent are her moments of fleeting happiness in spite of her slightly overweight body.
A head injury allows Renee (Schumer) to live in the absence of self-loathing; she regains consciousness and views her body as beautiful. Now in a believed thin body she can be successful and achieve her dreams of having a boyfriend and being a secretary in the mecca of capitalist femininity; a cosmetics company.
She ditches her friends (represented in the film as not conventionally good looking, and so, unsuccessful in life) and becomes the ‘average woman’ voice for the excellently acted, Avery LeClaire (Williams) and her cosmetics company.
I Feel Pretty reinforces beauty myths. It says that all women need to do is to hit their head, get better (or in this case, literally delusional) self-esteem and their dream life will result. What is necessary is critique of beauty pressures and their origins, not a denial of high standards, and placement of blame and burden on women to sort themselves out.
This film judges women. Slim women are shown as shallow, rude and stupid, they are laughed at. Non-conventionally good-looking women are portrayed as weird, at times pathetic, and unsuccessful. There is a painful lack of nuance about women, their hopes, desires and realities.
A funny film in parts, but a deeply sad and unfunny premise.
Words: Sarah Taaffe-Maguire
