Just hours before attending a preview screening of I Feel Pretty, I happened to be riding a stationary bike at my gym when the nearest TV showed Amy Schumer plugging the flick on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

DeGeneres praised the comedy, as you might expect, but she had especially kind words for the Schumer character’s final speech. She hinted that the consciousness-raising moment is the best part of the film.

Judging from the early reviews, many agree that I Feel Pretty has an important message, but they also seem to feel it undermines that message in a way that’s clumsy at best, unconscionable at worst. So when I say I actually enjoyed the flick, maybe I need to stress that I did not fall off that stationary bike and hit my head before seeing it.

Written and directed by Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein—and engagingly performed by Schumer and the rest of the cast—the comedy takes on society’s obsession with physical perfection and the damaging effects it has on the self-esteem of women and girls.

Schumer plays Renee Bennett, who worships beautiful people and thinks her life would improve if only she were one of them. Then she falls off a stationary bike at the gym and hits her head, only to pick herself up and realize she’s suddenly become drop-dead gorgeous. But, of course, it’s all in her shock-addled imagination. To everyone else, she’s the same average-looking woman she always was.

Well, not quite the same. Because Renee is convinced she’s exceptional, she begins radiating the kind of self-confidence that convinces other people she’s exceptional. Due to this new attitude—along with a fair amount of fortuitous timing—she begins turning her loveless, unsatisfying life around. Not only does she pursue romance, but she makes a play for a glamorous job in the headquarters of the cosmetics firm that previously has confined her to a grungy online-sales office.

A film with a feminist message risks alienating half its audience, especially if it turns its male characters into the bad guys. I Feel Pretty avoids this by depicting its men as more enlightened than all too many of their real-life counterparts. As in 2015’s Trainwreck, Schumer’s love interest is a nice and decidedly un-macho guy, Ethan (Rory Scovel), and even the wealthy hunk Renee meets at her company’s HQ (Tom Hopper) is able to appreciate her for who she is.

The film also avoids creating female villains. Instead of turning its conventionally beautiful women into Renee’s adversaries, it shows that even they can find reasons to doubt themselves. Thus, cosmetics exec Avery (Michelle Williams) hates her baby-like voice, while toned model Mallory (Emily Ratajkowski) worries that people question her intelligence.

In the process of attacking society’s obsession with perfection, I Feel Pretty hardly achieves perfection itself. When Renee’s new success threatens to drive a wedge between her and longtime friends Vivian and Jane (Aidy Bryant and Busy Philipps), it comes off as a cliché stolen from countless high school dramas. More damagingly, it could be argued that the film’s message of empowerment is achieved by discounting the real-world prejudices faced by those who fall short of physical ideals.

Still, the comedy inspires plenty of laughs, especially for those who appreciate Schumer’s raunchy sense of humor. At the same time, it may well inspire new hope and confidence in anyone who’s ever suffered from low self-esteem. As the film points out, that includes just about all of us.

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

I Feel Pretty (rated PG-13) opens Friday (April 20) at theaters nationwide.