Quote:
They do matter, just not as much as you would think.
This.
When a guy looks at a girl, looks is pretty much 90% of the equation. A sparkling personality, good fashion sense and above-average intelligence can bump an 8 up to a 9, but a fat girl who's a 4 with a great sense of humour who's really nice is still a fat girl. Furthermore, although guys have types, in general, there are "clasically attractive" features that the vast majority of men desire - hip to waist ratio, breasts, youthful complexion, slim, etc.
When a girl looks at a guy, looks are just another factor that ranks in the mix with tons of other ones, such as personality, wealth, social status, intelligence, confidence, humour, dress sense, etc. Which means that excelling in any one or two of these can outweigh a deficiency in another. This is why a girl will date the asshole part-time bartender with no prospects and no money because he's good looking and the sex is fun, and then ditch him for the wealthy 45 year old businessman who's a foot shorter than her and going bald. (Whereas, a guy will not ditch the ditzy glamour model for a fat ugly girl just because they share a lot of interests and she's really smart and funny.)
As long as you present yourself as well as possible, i.e. wear clothes that are fashionable (not necessarily expensive) and flatter your figure, got to the gym, get a well-styled haircut, etc and approach confidently, you're giving yourself the best chance at getting your foot in the door. Also, women's types are very different - a girl can absolutely love a certain look, for example dark hair, and therefore she would just not be interested in your Brad Pitt lookalike friend, but be really interested in you - the only way to find out is to go approach!