Renee (Amy Schumer) dreams of being pretty and working at the 5th Avenue office of her favourite make up brand Lily LeClaire. When a spin class accident magically makes her feel transformed into a beautiful woman her new found confidence opens doors for her.

I Feel Pretty has two faults that make it hard to recommend. It’s message never really works and more importantly it’s only occasionally funny.

The big message of the film is about letting go of your insecurities and not giving in to the pressures of society to be something you are not. But there seem to be inconsistencies throughout. Amy Schumer is not an unattractive woman and has a perfectly normal figure, but we are supposed to see her here as disgustingly overweight and ugly. It’s hard to swallow as a concept but perhaps would work better if the film made it clear this is normal and society makes us believe it isn’t. When her confidence kicks in we then have a tiny sidestep into the territory of the trope “attractive girls are shallow”, whilst at the same time Renee keeps bumping into Mallory (real life model Emily Ratajkowski) who is just a “normal” woman. Perhaps the point is that life is contradictory and everyone is unique? But I feel like that would be giving it too much credit.

Most importantly, it’s not funny enough. Schumer’s debut film Trainwreck was hilarious, but her subsequent comedies have not captured that spirit. The best creation on display here is Michelle Williams mouse like CEO Avery LeClaire who we don’t get to see enough of.

A disappointment.