I FEEL PRETTY
US, 2018, 110 minutes, Colour.
Amy Schumer, Michelle Williams, Tom Hopper, Rory Scovel, Adrian Martinez, Emily Ratajkowski, Busy Phillips, Lauren Hutton, Naomi Campbell.
Directed by Abby Kohn, Marc Silverstein.
The title is a commonly used phrase but, it gets a bit of prominence by its presence as a lyric in West Side Story. In this film, comedian Amy Schumer (she would probably agree that she is not “pretty�) gets a chance to feel pretty well not appearing as pretty!
One of the morals of the story is that being pretty is merely an external quality. The more important thing is “beauty� which, even if it is not on the outside, is very much on the inside.
This rather sounds like a bit of moralising at the beginning of a review. However, the screenplay does become more and more didactic as it goes on with Amy Schumer as Renée practically giving a homily on this theme at the end of the film.
Renee works in a narrow little room as a contact for a huge cosmetics company which has a skyscraper block of officers in Uptown New York City. She yearns to be pretty, going to a gym for exercising in bike riding (being embarrassed by the receptionist questioning her about the size of her shoes), peddling like mad, surrounded by ultra sleek pretty models, and then crashing off her bike. When she does this a second time, it affects her head and her mind. As she looks in the mirror, we seeing her as she still really is, she believes she is ultra-pretty and proceeds to follow this delusion.
So, the point is being made, with comedy touches, verbal and visual, that many women pay too much attention to prettiness, believing marketing and advertising, setting up an unreal ideal for themselves and disappointed if it is not achieved.
But, for the moment, it does give Renee some confidence as she applies for the receptionist job in the main office, glamour rising herself, treating all visitors (although ultimately committing the sin of ignoring those were not pretty) with charm and supplying them with their favourite drinks. She also encounters the granddaughter of the founder, Avery (Michelle Williams in a comic role and sporting a very squeaky voice and low self-image). She is in charge of a new line, Diffusion, which is aimed at the “ordinary woman� who shop at places like Target.
Lauren Hutton, a top model for the last 50 years, plays the grandmother founder of the company.
Renee has good friends who are what are commonly called “plain�, one of them a bit heavier than she might want to be. Since they see her as normal, they can’t understand what is transforming her and a are very hurt. She also encounters a man at the dry cleaners and completely misinterprets the conversation, her thinking that she sees her as very glamorous which leads to dates and an initial good company but final disappointment.
Perhaps there is something to be said of people falling on their head, because it happens to Renee again and, as she looks in the mirror, she is aghast at seeing she is back to normal.
As has been noted, there is a moralising homily at the end of the film and an affirmation of being beautiful even when you are not pretty!
1. The title? The lyric from West Side Story? The tone?
2. The meaning of “pretty�? Exterior? The meaning of “beautiful�, interior as well as exterior?
3. Amy Schumer as comedian, Renee’s story, real, the fantasy?
4. Obsessions, delusions, discovery?
5. Women’s response to the film and its themes? Men’s response?
6. The reality and the satire in presenting women’s goals, image and reality, advertising and marketing, the appeal to drives and impulses?
7. Visual contrast in the women in the cast, the sleek and pretty women, the ordinary but beautiful women? Issues of self-image? Low self-image?
8. Amy Schumer as Renee, her appearance, bodily presentation, personality, humour?
9. The moralising about women, the drives, goals, advertising and marketing? And Renée’s final homily at the launch of the perfume?
10. Her job, make up, working in the small office, the contrast with the skyscraper and the main office? Her working with Mason, wanting to chat with him, his reticence, intrusive at the toilet?
11. Avery, the granddaughter of the founder of the company, her appearance, her voice, squeaky? Her work, self-image? The contrast with Grant, his success, the touch of the cad? The grandmother, 50 years of the company, the posters with Lauren Hutton 50 years earlier? Renee at the bar, her friends, their plain looks, the characters, joviality, the bonds between them? Renee and her plans? The women and their plans, taking the photos, going online – and no response?
12. Renee, going to the exercise, the reaction of the girl at reception and the hiring of the large shoes? Her intensity, the accident with the bike?
13. Mason wanting her to go to the main office, her reactions, deciding to go, the glamour of the office, the women present, seeing Avery, the pleasant reception, the decision to make the application for the position?
14. The accident, her looking in the mirror, her becoming deluded, thinking she was very pretty, that people would not recognise her? Her growing confidence, her manner, the touch of the haughty, reacting to people as if they did not recognise her? Mason, her friends?
15. Ethan, the encounter at the drycleaners, talking with him, her coming on, misinterpreting his responses? The phone number? Her control? His being pleasant, cameraman, the date, their talking, her glamour and confidence, the bikini contest, her participation, raucous singing, the fact that it was rigged, her enjoying the food? Ethan and his conversation with the bar owner and his complementing Renee?
16. The meeting with Avery, Naomi Campbell as Helen? Their expectations, her talk, the Diffusion line, on sale to ordinary women at Target and other stores? Her getting the job? The exhilaration of being at reception, the clothes, confident, her treating people well, drinks for customers?
17. Grant, his flirting, the truth about him, his going to Boston on the plane, his allowance from Avery? At the dinner with his mother? And cadging food from Renee?
18. The meal with Avery and Grant and their mother? Ethan going? Nice? Her performance and ideas? The grandmother impressed?
19. Her going to Boston, rehearsing in the hotel room, going back to New York?
20. Her girlfriends, the way she treated them? Their being put off? Her being allowed to go into the flash dining room? Meeting the girls with their friends, the discussions about knitting, her looking down on them?
21. The hitting her head again, looking in the mirror, her horror at seeing her real self, pretending that Ethan would not recognise her?
22. The reconciliation with her girlfriends, with their friends?
23. The date with Ethan, her backing out, the phone call, pretending that he would not recognise her? His being puzzled?
24. The launch, the arrangement with Mason, the electrical setup, the slides, her speech – and a homily? Success? And persuading a greater confidence?
25. The future, being herself, with her friends, with Ethan, her enthusiasm on the bike, the future?
