The line between being outrageous yet beloved is one Amy Schumer has walked throughout her entire comedy career, and her debut turn as a film star and writer is no different. She plays Amy, a journalist and serial drinker/swearer/non-monogamist, whose philandering father (Colin Quinn) long ago instilled in her a fear of intimacy – one that’s challenged when she meets good-natured sports doctor Aaron (Bill Hader).
So far, so formulaic, but Schumer’s skill lies in subtly subverting expectations. Not only does her screenplay flip the typical gender script and show us a female lead enjoying a lifestyle usually only afforded to men onscreen, it also challenges the problematisation of Amy’s behaviour. Amy is content in her hedonistic lifestyle, and it’s not slut- shaming nor a grand wake-up call that alerts her to the errors of her ways – because there are none. Her needs and priorities merely shift, as they do in life, and the narrative focus given to her little sister and MS-suffering father perfectly depict her increasing need for a source of stability and love. Director Judd Apatow, always attuned to class and financial issues, nicely handles the tonal shifts, while Schumer is surprisingly emotive during the more dramatic scenes.
But this subversion never comes at the expense of humour. Schumer is fearless in attacking sex, relationships and herself in ruthlessly funny fashion, and Amy and Aaron’s relationship is beautifully observed, from Amy’s request that they not spoon, but sleep in a “realistic” fashion; to their hilariously circular arguments. The supporting characters are also uproariously funny, from Tilda Swinton’s ingeniously caustic and almost unrecognisable editor, to Aaron’s penny-pinching, Downton Abbey fanatic best friend, LeBron James.
The recent controversy surrounding Schumer’s racist material, however, sadly isn’t far from our minds or the screen. Apart from successful basketball players, whose bodies are fetishised, Schumer’s black characters are all loudly aggressive stereotypes. Even at the top of her game, Schumer can still aim higher.