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I Feel Pretty (film)

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I Feel Pretty
Teaser poster
Directed by
Written by
  • Abby Kohn
  • Marc Silverstein
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyFlorian Ballhaus
Edited byTia Nolan
Music byMichael Andrews
Production
companies
Distributed bySTXfilms
Release date
  • April 20, 2018 (2018-04-20) (United States)
Running time
110 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$32 million[2]
Box office$19.6 million[2]

I Feel Pretty is a 2018 American comedy film written and directed by Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein, in their directional debuts. The film stars Amy Schumer, Michelle Williams, Emily Ratajkowski, Rory Scovel, Aidy Bryant, Busy Philipps, Tom Hopper, Naomi Campbell, and Lauren Hutton. The plot follows an insecure woman who, after suffering a head injury, gains extreme self-confidence and believes she is considerably attractive.

The film was released in the United States on April 20, 2018, by STXfilms, and has grossed $19 million worldwide. It received mixed reviews from critics, with many saying it did not fully commit to its premise or tone, although the performances of Schumer and Williams were praised.[3]

Plot

Renee Barrett (Schumer) is a young, professional woman who struggles with debilitating feelings of inadequacy about her appearance. She frequently apologizes, and has trouble getting people to pay attention to her or treat her with respect. She works as the website manager for a large cosmetics company called Lily LeClaire; however, she resents that her office is in a basement in Chinatown and not at the corporate Fifth Avenue headquarters. She learns that LeClaire is hiring for a new receptionist, but Renee does not see a point in applying because she does not feel like she is confident or attractive enough to serve as the "face" of LeClaire.

Renee attends a SoulCycle class but falls off her bike and hits her head. Once she regains consciousness, she is unable to see her body as it actually is. Instead, when she looks in the mirror or at photographs of herself, she sees a body of a thin and conventionally attractive woman. This head injury gives her a newfound confidence. She becomes instantly happier and more energetic and she is allowing herself to interact with the world differently. She mistakenly believes that a man is hitting on her in a dry cleaner and exchanges numbers with him and she applies for the receptionist position at LeClaire. While being interviewed, she impresses the company's CEO, Avery LeClaire (Williams), with her confidence, and subsequently lands the job. Renee proves herself to be efficient at her job, with Grant LeClaire, Avery's brother, taking notice with how Renee handles herself.

Renee calls Ethan, the man from the dry cleaner, and asks him to go on a date. On their date, Ethan admits to being slightly afraid of Renee. Renee enters a bikini contest at a bar, and he is concerned that she is about to embarrass herself because she is not as thin as the other women in the competition. Renee gets the crowd behind her by making self-deprecating jokes about herself and dancing wildly. Even though she does not win the contest, she tells Ethan that she's okay with that because she knows she is attractive and she doesn't need any external validation. As Ethan and Renee's relationship grows more serious, he admits to having self esteem issues and he tells Renee that he's attracted to her because she knows what makes her awesome instead of focusing on the stuff she doesn't like about herself. They end up having sex at Renee's apartment. As Renee brings water into a meeting at LeClaire, she accidentally drops a blush product, which breaks apart on the floor. As she is picking up all of the pieces, she announces to the room that she can't seem to find the applicator anywhere. Avery tells her that there is no applicator for the product because LeClaire does not usually provide applicators. Renee is surprised upon learning this and Avery inquires why that would surprise her. Renee educates the room that the average woman buying makeup at Target is not going to have high end makeup brushes. Women buying less expensive makeup expect the applicator to come with the product. This is new information to everyone else in the room and Avery is grateful for Renee's insight.

As time goes on, however, Renee's confidence is making her increasingly inconsiderate of others. She was invited to a private work party and decided to bring her two closest friends, Vivian (Bryant) and Jane (Phillips), but Renee ditches them because her coworkers throwing the party would only allow Renee in. She then embarrasses her friends on a group date because she was trying to help them seem attractive and sexy to the men by getting everyone drunk and suggesting they dance provocatively instead of allowing them to have actual conversations. When her friends get angry with her, Renee calls them boring. They tell her she should leave.

One day at work, Avery tells Renee that she frequently feels insecure about how her high pitch voice makes people think she's unintelligent. She then invites Renee to a dinner. Renee arrives at the dinner with Ethan, expecting it to be a large work function when in reality it was an intimate dinner with Avery, Grant and their grandmother Lily LeClaire. Renee hits it off with Lily, whom Avery is attempting to impress so Avery announces that she will bring Renee to Boston to help with the business pitch. Once in Boston, as Renee is practicing her speech for the pitch, Grant comes to her hotel room to order room service, since his room service bill isn't being covered by the LeClaire business. Renee and Grant almost kiss, but Renee pulls away at the last second when she sees a Snapchat message from Ethan. Renee locks herself in the bathroom to separate herself from Grant. She steps into the large glass shower and begins to have a panic attack when Grant shouts something from the other room. As Renee turns to leave the shower, she walks right into the glass door and loses consciousness. This blow to the head undoes the mental distortion she was experiencing about her appearance. Renee wakes up several hours later to learn that what she believes is a physically transformational spell was breaking. She grows so discouraged that she flies back to New York, abandoning Avery at the pitch meeting. She becomes depressed once in New York and she goes to her friends to try to make up, but they are uninterested in spending time with her. She also breaks up with Ethan because she is convinced that he would not find her attractive anymore.

Renee attends another SoulCycle class attempting to recreate the first head injury, but it does not work. In the locker room, she runs into Mallory (Ratajkowski), whom she had met earlier in the movie. Mallory is emotional over a break up and Renee offers her some comfort. Because of how beautiful Mallory is, Renee assumes that Mallory broke up with her boyfriend, but Mallory says that her boyfriend dumped her. Renee is bewildered by this. Mallory then tells Renee that she feels really insecure sometimes, to which Renee responds with comedic anger. Renee starts comparing Mallory's body to her own, pointing out how flawless she believes Mallory to be. She then says she wants "to punch Mallory in her dumb face." Mallory is upset by the word "dumb," calling it triggering because it's an area she feels insecure about. Mallory then ends the conversation because she has to go to a modeling audition at LeClaire, which Renee realizes is probably for the Target makeup line. This concerns Renee because she believes the Target line should use a more ordinary looking woman as their brand ambassador rather than a woman who is as conventionally attractive as Mallory.

Renee devises a plan to crash the launch speech. Once she is on the stage, she begins to tell her story of how she went from conventionally attractive woman to what she looks like now. On a screen behind the stage, she shows the audience what she thinks are before and after photos, but in reality the photos of her look exactly the same. Everyone in the audience is confused by what Renee is telling them. Renee turns around and looks at the photos and realizes that there was never any physical transformation. She then gives a speech about how every person is good enough just the way they are now. The crowd goes wild. The launch is a success. Renee then makes up with Avery, her friends and Ethan after she realizes that "it was her the whole time." The movie ends with her enjoying another SoulCycle class.

Cast

Release

I Feel Pretty was initially scheduled to be released on June 29, 2018, by STX Entertainment, but in February 2018 was moved up to April 27, 2018, due to solid test screening results.[8][9] The release date was later changed again to April 20, 2018, a week earlier, to avoid competition with Avengers: Infinity War, which after I Feel Pretty's initial move, had itself moved from its May 4, 2018 date to April 27.[10]

Reception

Box office

As of April 22, 2018, I Feel Pretty has grossed $16 million in the United States and Canada, and $2.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $18.4 million, against a production budget of $32 million.[2]

In the United States and Canada, I Feel Pretty was released alongside Traffik and Super Troopers 2, and was projected to gross $13–15 million from 3,440 theaters and open at number three in the box office in its opening weekend.[11] It made $6.3 million on its first day, including $1 million from Thursday night previews which was better than the $650,000 made by Schumer's Snatched the year before. It went on to open to $16 million, finishing third behind A Quiet Place and Rampage. The opening was lower than both of Schumer's previous two films, Trainwreck ($30 million) and Snatched ($19.5 million).[12]

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 34% based on 127 reviews, and an average rating of 5.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "I Feel Pretty has a charming star and the outline of a worthwhile comedy — but unlike its suddenly confident central character, it suffers from a fundamental lack of conviction."[13] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 47 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews."[14] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[12]

David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film a "B–", saying: "Schumer's latest comedy could have used a few more polishes — it's a little flabby towards the backend, even if its star is totally fine just as she is — but it never slackens in its conviction that the world reflects how you feel about yourself, or in how empowering that can be if you come at it from the right angle."[15] Variety's Peter Debruge gave the film a moderately positive review, saying, "What sets I Feel Pretty apart is the inspired premise that Renee’s transformation takes place entirely in her head, while those around her are left befuddled by her sudden change of attitude — a concept that begs the question of why our society encourages women to second-guess their self-image in the first place."[16]

J.R. Kinnard of PopMatters wrote "The only people who won't be bored by I Feel Pretty are those whom it offends. It's a gross miscalculation that might mean well, but fails to balance the sharpness and delicacy necessary to tackle the emotional carnage wrought by self-hatred. That it forgets to make us laugh is the final insult."[17]

Writing for Rolling Stone, Peter Travers gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, and criticized what he termed the hypocrisy of the filmmakers, saying, "...still: Is it really OK to get off making plus-size jokes just because you tack on a moralizing ending that teaches a lesson about body positivity? Can you have it both ways?"[18] Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune also gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, and said, "I Feel Pretty [succumbs to all the wrong Hollywood contrivances]. It's just not funny or fresh enough, and that has everything to do with the material and how it's handled visually, and nothing to do with the people on the screen."[19]

Controversy

Jeffrey Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere pointed out that elements of I Feel Pretty appeared to resemble the plot of the 1945 film The Enchanted Cottage, without crediting it as an inspiration.[20] Others accused the film of body shaming, with Cosmopolitan writing, "[it's] insulting to anyone and everyone — from Amy herself all the way to women that are larger, less able-bodied...AKA, all the things that are promoted in society to be 'better.'"[21][11]

References

  1. ^ "I FEEL PRETTY (12A)". British Board of Film Classification. April 10, 2018. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c "I Feel Pretty (2018)". The Numbers. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  3. ^ "'I Feel Pretty': What The Critics are Saying". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. April 18, 2018. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  4. ^ Ford, Rebecca (June 22, 2017). "Amy Schumer's 'I Feel Pretty' Adds Rafe Spall (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  5. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (May 31, 2017). "Michelle Williams Joins Amy Schumer In 'I Feel Pretty'". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  6. ^ Ford, Rebecca (July 28, 2017). "Amy Schumer's 'I Feel Pretty' Adds Rory Scovel (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Galuppo, Mia. "Aidy Bryant, Busy Philipps Round Out Cast for Amy Schumer Comedy 'I Feel Pretty'". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
  8. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (February 14, 2018). "Amy Schumer's 'I Feel Pretty' Now Ready For A Spring Debut". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media.
  9. ^ Lee, Ashley (July 13, 2017). "Amy Schumer Comedy 'I Feel Pretty' Gets Summer 2018 Release". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  10. ^ Grebey, James (March 6, 2018). "'Infinity War' Prompts Small Romance Movie to Change Release Date". Inverse. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  11. ^ a b McClintock, Pamela (April 17, 2018). "Amy Schumer's 'I Feel Pretty' Tracking to Open Behind 'Trainwreck,' 'Snatched'". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
  12. ^ a b Busch, Anita; D'Alessandro, Anthony (April 22, 2018). "'A Quiet Place' Still Noisy With $21.7M As 'Rampage' Beats Chest, 'Super Trooper 2' Surprises – Sunday AM Update". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
  13. ^ "I Feel Pretty (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  14. ^ "I Feel Pretty Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  15. ^ Ehrlich, David (April 18, 2018). "'I Feel Pretty' Review: Amy Schumer's Body Positive New Rom-Com Is No Train Wreck". IndieWire. Penske Business Media. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  16. ^ Debruge, Peter (April 18, 2018). "Review: 'I Feel Pretty'". Variety. Penske Business Media. ISSN 0042-2738. OCLC 810134503. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  17. ^ Kinnard, J.R. (18 April 2018). ""'I Feel Pretty' Leaves You Feeling Pretty Bad". PopMatters.
  18. ^ Travers, Peter (April 18, 2018). "'I Feel Pretty' Review: Is This Amy Schumer Comedy Fat-Shaming Away the Funny?". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  19. ^ Phillips, Michael (April 18, 2018). "'I Feel Pretty' review: Amy Schumer's fable about fat-shaming is frankly depressing". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  20. ^ Wells, Jeffrey (April 13, 2018). "Some People Just Don't Do Carbs". Hollywood Elsewhere. Retrieved April 15, 2018.
  21. ^ Cieply, Michael (April 12, 2018). "As Molly Ringwald Turns On 'The Breakfast Club,' Dare We Laugh At Amy Schumer's 'I Feel Pretty'?". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved April 16, 2018.