I Feel Pretty (dir. Abby Kohn; Marc Silverstein)

Around half way through Amy Schumer’s new comedy "I Feel Pretty", I suddenly wondered if I had accidentally wandered into an anniversary screening of "The Devil Wears Prada". Though this bewitching sentiment should seem strange as the cast on screen don’t even vaguely resemble the 2007 fashion satire, so similar were the plot strands, character development and everything else, I grew more impatient by the minute awaiting the glorious return of Meryl Streep. Back in 2015 comedy producer Judd Appatow gave artistic freedom and wheelbarrows of studio money to "Inside Amy Schumer" star Schumer to produce, write and star in her very first comedy project. The result was "Trainwreck," one of the most original and well written bawdy coming-of age tales of the year. The gags never stopped coming and Schumer’s self-deprecating humour grew more charming every time she recounted on her plus size physique, or fell over trying to walk in six inch heels. Fast forward a few years, and the odd supporting performance as a grieving wife in "Thank You For Your Service" and the disastrous "Snatched" have made up her cinemaric outings, in between her continued venture with her Comedy Central TV show. With "Trainwreck", Schumer managed to circumvent the now tiresome rom/com clichés and good-girl mentality and satirize public perceptions of women with sub-Bridesmaid's results - and it was all down to her writing. Here however - our script is missing Schumer's brazen comedic angles -and her inspired storytelling wouldn't go a miss either. Let’s begin with the plot: we’re introduced to Renee Bennett (Schumer); a thirty something website-developer for a cosmetics conglomerate ostracized to a basement office behind a Chinese restaurant. She’s single and seems to find the viscitiudes of dating life in modern New York City too much to bare; “people only care about your picture, and I’m sick of it” - she muses about the online dating scene to best friends Vivian (Andy Bryant) and Jane (Busy Phillips- wife of the director incidentally). Suffice to say, she lacks self-esteem and confidence- mainly regarding her looks. Renee lives her life hoping one day to be beautiful. “I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be undeniably pretty” says our heroine to gym buddy and model Mallory (Emily Ratajkowski) - and it appears fate is about to offer her this desire.

Well, sort of. After unceremoniously falling of a “soul cycle” at her local gym, Renee hits her head badly, only to awake to delusions of grandeur, or to put it more delicately - under the belief that she is the most beautiful woman in the world. Could her new found lease on life have been the result of a knock on the head or a supernatural occurrence? (Before her accident, Renee is seen watching Penny Marshall's "Big" before hurtling a coin into a wishing well - with extravagant beauty as her prize). Far be it from me to guess, because Kohn and Silervstein sure don’t care. Yet another unremarkable trend from the writers of "How To Be Single" and "Never Been Kissed" With her insecurities behind her, Renee attacks life with all the hutzpah and school-girl enthusiasm associated with the supermodels she adores. First on the list is new love interest Ethan (Rory Scovel) with whom she starts to have a passing dalliance. He becomes enamored with her confidence and carefree attitude and she with his effeminate and bookish sensibilty. But she thinks he sees someone different. Getting confused yet?

Soon after, she lands a job as the receptionist in the same company, with the hope of being around the beautiful models and CEO Avery LeClaire (Michelle Williams)- with whom she has a borderline stalker fascination. On and on it goes, with Renee becoming Avery's muse, with the odd suggestion toward a quasi-love triangle adding to the film's clichéd method of storytelling. For the most part, "I Feel Pretty" is inherently watchable- mostly down to Schumer’s excellent comic timing and ability to consistently mock herself without it ever becoming boring. It's at it's best during the well-orchestrated moments of a relationship burgeoning between Renee and Ethan, although every now and then there are some tender exchanges between Renee and her BFFS about the nature of inner beauty versus exterior glamour- which are sort of alluded to later on but not anywhere near as scabrously - which bring the drama back down to earth. All of this has been well documented by skeptics who have taken against the films body shamming mentality and other less than progressive attitudes towards woman, and on the face of it, quite rightly so. Up until it’s grandstanding finish,"I Feel Pretty" only serves to remind you how much better a film it could have been if it were less derivative, or even just less long. Boasting a hefty 110 minute running time, this comedy trudged along without much care for explaining its central concept and merely flickers between comedic set piece to comedic set piece (it's high watermark being a bikini sequence pictured above which dies a death from the beginning). If indeed our central character is experiencing delusions, than laughing at her false modesty is just plain cruel. Despite some mildly humorous gags here and there, this is a limp and wasted opportunity to use the terrific comedic stylish of its star to say something interesting about society's interpretation of the woman's body - and that's just a great shame.

Rating 2/5