I Feel Pretty - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

I Feel Pretty

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
Having Hollywood make a film about body image is kind of like having Kim Jong Un make a movie about human rights, or Saudi Arabia making a film about feminism. It’s almost antithetical to the cause as Hollywood was BUILT on having the prettiest and the most unattainable body types of all time as the face of their empire. Not to mention having someone like Amy Schumer plays the “ugly” girl (kind of like having Anne Hathaway be the nerdy girl in Princess Diaries, or America Ferrera in Ugly Betty). Everyone knows the gag is false. We know that Amy is actually cute underneath her bad makeup and poor clothing choices. However, Not surprisingly, Amy Schumer’s I Feel Pretty (seemingly taken from the infamous song sung by Natalie Wood in West Side Story) sputters and fails, seemingly running on fumes of solid premises and good intentions, but mostly falling flat on its face as it mines yuks out of Amy Schumer gaining confidence in her own mental image of being a “normal” person viewing herself as a world class hottie.

I have a sort of “love/hate” relationship with Amy Schumer. During the early point of her stand up career I really enjoyed her crass sense of humor and overly lascivious body humor. The first two season of her TV show were quite funny, and I spent more time guiltily laughing over her skits than I cared to admit. However, Amy got overly political in recent years, abandoned what made her funny in the first place, and her career as a comedian has taken a steep nose dive. Her infamous black leather Comedy Special was OBLITERATED from reviews, and was actually one of the most painful stand up acts I had ever seen. Her third season of This is Amy Schumer was ok, but it suffered from creative fatigue and some of the luster had worn off. By this time Amy had decided to make the transition to film with Trainwreck (which was an OK attempt), and followed it up with the fairly painful Snatched where she was paired with the adorable Goldie Hawn. By this time I had become pretty worn out from Amy’s “I’m a nasty whore!” and “I’m such a fat ugly blonde!” schtick that I was really willing to write her off completely. HOWEVER (big however), I was actually rather intrigued by I Feel Pretty. It was a PG-13 film (a surprise for Amy’s normally R-rated content) dealing with body image in an “old by fresh” way.

You see, Amy is playing Renee Bennett, a young woman in New York who is working for a giant makeup and fashion company in the most humble of ways. Instead of being a gorgeous hottie in the star studded building, Renee lives her meager life as a technical analyst in the basement of the company, enjoying the friendship her normal friends, and wishing that she could be pretty and noticed like everyone else. When Renee makes a wish in a fountain and subsequently hits her head in her spinning class, she wakes up from her injury only to believe that she is NOT the person she was a few minutes. When she looks in the mirror she sees a stunningly beautiful woman and gains the magical ego boost that comes along with quickly gained attention. Amusingly enough, no one else sees the “change” in Renee, but her vivacious charisma that she has from her self esteem boost is enough to conquer armies.

Moving out of her old job, she charms her way into the role of secretary to Avery LeClaire (Michelle Williams), who is the daughter and CEO of the Lily LeClaire cosmetics company that Renee works for, gets a cute boyfriend named Ethan (Rory Scovel) and basically starts to take the world by the horns and make it her oyster. Although, with great power (in this case her perceived beauty) comes great responsibility. As Renee falls deeper and deeper into her new life as a “hottie”, she begins to lose that sense of humble humanity that made her what she was. Her friends are soon ditched due to her snobby attitude, she begins to fall into the LeClaire family squabbles, and soon is about as unrecognizable on the inside, as she thinks she is on the outside.

I Feel Pretty is excruciating to watch at times. The yuks are mined from cliched body type humor. You know, the classic “I’m such an ugly fatty, yuk yuk yuk!”, while interspersed with well intentioned discussions about actually loving yourself for who you are and not what you look like. This means that the movie is VERY disjointed, with wholes sections of the film almost unbearable unfunny to watch (with Amy Schumer playing a more restrained and less R-rated version of her normal slapstick humor), and other parts endearingly cute. Most of the time my wife and I stared at each other with shock and horror on our faces, but then there were quite a few moments where we looked at each other and said “wow, that was surprisingly good”. Renee and Ethan are actually the highlight of the movie when they’re together. Their relationship is sweet and charming, with some seriously palpable chemistry between Schumer and Scovel. The bikini contest had me in stitches, and their little romantic park scene was adorable to say the least. However, when Amy goes rogue and interacts with anyone else BUT Ethan, things get rather painful to watch. Michelle Williams looks like she’s about to die from sheer embarrassment (I wonder if she owed some producer a huge favor that was called in to star in this one), and the rest of the cast barely gets by with delivering their lines and begging for the director to yell “cut!”.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, some partial nudity, and language




Video:

Shot digitally, I Feel Pretty looks exemplary on Blu-ray. The film is shiny and glossy without looking overly digital, and filled with warm colors and a nice honey colored grading to the image. The LeClaire office shows off some really vibrant primaries, with red dressed, golden hand bags, and glossy white modern fixtures at every turn, while Renee’s home is more surreal, with a honey colored glaze and dimmer lighting. Outdoor shots are impeccable, with the scene where Renee and Ethan are having a picnic being one of the sharpest and cleanest of the film. There’s some varying degrees of detail levels depending on the color grading, but overall the film is very crisp, very clean and shows off everything from the intimate stitching on clothing to the textures of New York City streets. Blacks are solid and show plenty of shadow detail, while only falling prey to crush a few times.








Audio:

I was actually a little bit surprised by the fact that a comedy like I Feel Pretty was given a 7.1 DTS-HD MA track. In fact, it really is a little bit of overkill for the most part, although there are a few standout moments where the 7.1 track differentiates itself from a typical 5.1 mix. The track is decidedly front heavy for a majority of the film, with the dialog and banter being the mainstay of the track. However, the musical fidelity is strong, bringing out the side channels and rears when needed, and there are a few boisterous moments that really crackle and pop. The scene where Renee makes her wish into the fountain is followed by a thunderous crack of lightning that brings the rears and surrounds to full attention, and the bikini contest is powerful and vibrant with the intensity of the music. Bass is a bit mild, but it is ever present throughout the film, and fills in the low end quite nicely. I won’t say that it’s a stellar track due to the front heavy nature of the movie, but it is well rounded and does more with the 7.1 mix than I was expecting.








Extras:

• Being Pretty - Featurette
• Deleted Scenes
• Gag Reel

Final Score: ​

I Feel Pretty isn’t a horrible movie, but it’s a predictable line of Amy Schumer starring films that just don’t seem to miss the mark. I really did like that Amy stars in a PG-13 movie that is about positive body image, but it’s hard to see past the cliched jokes about “ugly” people looking beautiful, while mining the comedic mine field with jokes about how beauty changes everything for them. It’s a bit disingenuous if I say so myself. BUUUUUUUUUUUUT, the largest faux pas is simply due to the fact that most of the jokes just really aren’t funny. Schumer has had a hard time making her film career really stick with her as a starring actress (she’s had the most success with supporting characters), but the movie seems to have an audience as it made almost $90 million on a $32 million budget. Universal’s Blu-ray is exceptionally looking and sounds good as well. Extras are a bit slim, but if you’re a fan the Blu-ray should treat you well. For people who AREN’T a fan of Schumer, I would suggest skipping entirely though.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Amy Schumer, Rory Scovel, Michelle Williams
Directed by: Abby Kohn, Marc Silverstein
Written by: Abby Kohn, Marc Silverstein
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 7.1, Spanish DTS 5.1, English DVS DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Studio: Universal
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 111 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: July 17, 2018

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Skip It

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I will skip this one based on your recommendation.

 

[JBrax]

Skipping....