‘No Hard Feelings’- Film Review: A Winning Combination of Jennifer Lawrence and a Heartfelt Comedy

After coming out of No Hard Feelings, whatever happened to the R-rated sex comedies? Sure, it’s depressing primarily we’re seeing limited-time dedicated comedies on the big screen, but we don’t seem to see them in theaters anymore as opposed to seeing a ton of them during the 80s to mid-2000s. I was too young to see a few of them, but it was a time when you get your friends together and sneak into an equally funny movie and get that glimpse of maturity of witnessing the main character either lose their virginities or go on wild trips. The last one I enjoyed watching was Blockers (or maybe Bros). Even when it doesn’t be perfect by any means, the latest from Good Boys director Gene Stupnitsky should’ve come out a decade ago since it delivers on being a mainstream comedy with hard laughs and heart, believe it or not.

What’s the Story: Maddie Barker (Jennifer Lawrence) has been a native of Montauk, New York, all her life, where she works as a bartender and has a side gig as an Uber driver. Unfortunately, she’s on the brink of losing the house she grew up in after her car gets repossessed and she is in debt. The closest she could get is when she stumbles upon a Craigslist post from two wealthy helicopter parents, Laird and Allison (Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti), who are offering a used Buick Regal to an attractive female in their early to mid-20s willing to date their 19-year-old son Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman), who’s very much an introverted person who needs someone to bring him out of his shell before leaving for Princeton in the fall. This is a strange way to get a new vehicle, but Maddie goes along, hoping this will all be worth it because she’s desperate.

Looking at the trailers, you automatically know how No Hard Feelings will play out for a coming-of-age rom-com of an older woman hitting up a guy she just met. What you see is what you get in R-rated fashion, as expected. Yet if that applies to you, this has something to your liking to re-watch or have on in the background, possibly. Stupnitsky and co-writer John Phillips show the attempt to harken back to the studio rom-com that goes both ways. That goes for a vibe that strongly reminded me of shades of both There’s Something About Mary and The Girl Next Door.

Jennifer Lawrence, who also produced this, was one of the most popular actresses in Hollywood in the 2010s, and her name grew even more prominent after winning an Academy Award for Best Actress ten years ago for her work in Silver Linings Playbook. She hasn’t been the lead in quite a while, and I’ve been waiting for a movie that’s a big hit since she’s coming off some noticeable box office flops none of us want to remember her for (Dark Pheonix, mother!). We’ve seen her being herself through her various late-night appearances, though it’s weird that we haven’t seen her do any straightforward comedies since we’ve seen her in dramedies. And you know what? Her performance as Maddie is possibly one of my favorites and that’s maybe because she had fun. It’s almost like this was tailor-made for her, and you can’t imagine anyone else who could’ve carried this. She does a lot of physical comedic acts that I didn’t know she could pull off, yet it made for some unbelievable laughs, especially going nude with a hilarious exchange with some bullies on the beach. Is it weird to say I prefer her performance as Maddie in No Hard Feelings rather than the last two performances she was nominated for an Oscar? Absolutely. In her attempts to seduce Percy awkwardly from being pepper sprayed in her van or skinny dipping in the ocean.

Andrew Barth Feldman, who many will recognize from Broadway and who looks and sounds like YouTuber Drew Gooden, delivers an impressive breakout role worth remembering by the end of the year as Percy. We see him as a smart, nerdy guy who follows the rules like a wallflower since he doesn’t have that many friends. Basically, he’s the polar opposite of Maddie in terms of trying to convince a guy like him to step outside of his comfort zone and live. Fortunately, this wasn’t a character that became annoying as the film progressed when he was trying, and it allowed their on-screen connection to shine through to the point where you forgot about their age difference. Fun Fact: The actor halted his plans to go to Harvard to film this. Let’s face it: When you’re acting alongside the likes of Lawrence, I completely understand why.

Though when it’s marketed as a comedy, its primary goal is the make me laugh, and while it’s always subjective, I couldn’t believe how funny it was throughout and it was that wasn’t mean-spirited as I thought. Some jokes early on didn’t quite get me, though they got better as it went on. But even when we know she’s doing this gig to get a car, it also shows its sensitive side in time to show the connection between Maddie and Percy as they get to know each other and their past, growing this unexpected friendship-building up. The moments allow the film’s heart to shine through and work to find both of them likable, which made me shocked this would go out of its way to have the audience care for these characters.

The plot never intends to break out of the mold; it’s very predictable where things go that could’ve leaned in a bit more, resulting in the weakest third act. The craziest thing about our screening was that the sound cut out right before probably the most crucial scene in the film. Fortunately, they rewound it by a minute so we wouldn’t miss anything. While this was inspired by an actual listing Stupnitsky looked up, this is one of the few movies this year I hope gets more attention from the genre because I have a feeling this will be one of the actress’s biggest draws in a while, and it’s kind to see with a large audience that’s under two hours.

Overall, No Hard Feelings will surprise those who enjoy a good laugh once in a while for a breezy summer comedy. Longtime fans of Jennifer Lawrence will finally see her flexing those comic chops in one of her best performances in years. It’s a return to the raunchy sex comedies, but it’s also surprisingly sweet, thanks to the chemistry between Lawrence and Feldman.