Nappily Ever After (2018) - Movie Review

 

More than a few times on this blog, I’ve highlighted films that are rather fundamentally bad in places, but that I’m willing to still champion because of the message behind it. Maybe it’s because I can get quite sentimental in what I discuss on here, or maybe it’s just because I like trying to find good things wherever I can, but that is the path that certain reviews go down. However, there are times when I look back on those reviews, specifically I Feel Pretty in this instance, and wonder if I was way too forgiving of faults for the sake of intent. Mainly because, having sat through this film, I know that that same idea can be used to make a far more entertaining film.

Okay, maybe not the exact same idea, but notions of self-image and how society treats the abstraction of beauty make up the bulk of this film’s core. The story of advertising executive Violet and her woes in life and love, she ends up serving as a greater vessel for this form of body-positivity than Amy Schumer could ever be. Partly because this doesn’t have to resort to goddamn soap opera clichés for the plot to exist at all, partly because the sense of humour here doesn’t clash violently with said plot, but mainly, it’s because this taps into a very specific aspect of beauty in American society: African-American women fitting into white society.

There is so much that can be said about the politics of hair that I could likely fill out this entire review with just the basics. But for the sake of brevity, we’ll stick to the crucial points, mainly the importance of movements like Black Is Beautiful as far as normalising the idea that a black woman’s natural beauty is something to be welcomed, not covered up to fit white aesthetics. And through Violet’s numerous hairstyles, each separated by chapters, we see not only the many ways that cover-up can take place, but the respective expectations society places on each one. Some signify agency and control of one’s life, while signify freedom and a willingness to cut loose.

But more so than the potentially unhelpful stereotyping that can occur, or even the idea that women style their hair in different ways, the main thing this film highlights are the reasons why women do so. Or, more specifically, why society expects them to. It boils down to a similar point to I Feel Pretty in how it highlights the importance of an individual’s wishes (i.e. I can style my hair however the hell I want to, thank you very much) against doing so just to get the attention of the opposite sex. Beauty is supposedly important in social/sexual interactions (not that I particularly care about appearances, and if anyone saw me out in the wild, they’d immediately guess that), but maintaining that artifice can be a lot more trouble and work than it’s actually worth. Especially when you’re doing it for reasons other than it being what you want.

While part of me wants to highlight how, beyond those finer details, this is a fairly standard rom-com with all the clichés and occasional bouts of awkwardness to boot, but much like with Crazy Rich Asians, I personally see that as a good thing. In a year where it seems like minority representation is at an all-time high at the box office, this kind of sweet but smart feature deserves its time in the sun, rain or shine.