REVIEW: I Feel PrettyBy Bri ManzanoApril 20, 2018I feel pretty angry; I feel pretty disappointed; I feel pretty sick of this movie’s nonsense of humor. I feel like I want my money back - not just the money I paid for the ticket, but any money that has ever gone to support anyone involved in the making of this movie.

Renee Bennett (Amy Schumer) is a mousy young woman scraping by with her fashion publication website job, her regular spin classes, and her desperate dating attempts. She suddenly finds confidence after a brutal head injury and begins to live the life she’s always found just out of reach. This confidence lands her an unlikely receptionist job at the fashion publication’s headquarters and a date with the adorkable Ethan (Rory Scovel), who is simply awed by Renee’s willingness to be herself.

There are only two reasons someone would see this movie: to laugh, or to learn.

If you’re looking to laugh, you have come to the wrong place. Rambling about nothing is not funny. Prolonged theatrics are not funny. Michelle Williams’ asthmatic parakeet voice is not funny. I Feel Pretty’s comedy is like the racecar driver who coasts slightly off course more and more throughout the race only to find himself miles away by the time it’s finished. The movie starts off ominously unfunny, becomes increasingly unfunny, and ends as aggressively unfunny.

Viewers will have a hard time learning much of anything as well. Schumer’s character doesn’t exhibit the inspiring confidence that the supporting cast would have you trying to emulate. She actually becomes a stuck-up, oblivious airhead who forgets how to read social cues and act like a normal human being. The only admirable aspect of confidence that Schumer displays as Bennett manifests when insecurity doesn’t stop her from doing the things she wants to do - applying for that dream job, participating in a bikini contest - which is a great principle by which to operate. If only it weren’t steeped in the arrogance the movie keeps touting as self-assurance.

Even if you can look past the rest of the film’s faults, there still isn’t much to work with. None of the characters are likable, save Scovel as Ethan, who plays a relatable and genuine character. There are plot threads that go nowhere. There are questionable creative decisions made that would have been simple to overwrite.

I can’t rightly blame Amy Schumer for the film’s lack of charm, but knowing how she has responded to criticism in the past, she will probably claim this movie’s critics are alt-right extremists.

They’re not. They just don’t like garbage.

Rating: 1.5/10

Favorite scene: the trailer for Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again that played before the movie.
Least favorite scene: all of it.

2016 © ScreenFellas Entertainment