No Hard Feelings: Film Review
I am very much here for Jennifer Lawrence‘s venture into full-on comedy. Judging by how great she is in No Hard Feelings, I hope she makes more.
She plays Maddie, an Uber driver and bartender who has lived in the New York summer destination of Montauk her entire life. She is a commitmentphobe and always ditches guys whenever they catch feelings. Once her car is impounded, Maddie looks for other ways to make money and she answers a Craigslist ad posted by Laird and Allison (Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti), who want a woman to date and sleep with their 19-year-old son Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman) before he goes to university.
Some people consider this concept icky and I’ll admit that I would feel differently about it had the gender roles been reversed. However, the film is actually different to how it’s been marketed and it plays the concept very safe. It’s less raunchy and more heartfelt and the focus is on their blossoming friendship rather than sex.
There are some hilarious laugh-out-loud moments and fantastic setpieces involving nudity or physical comedy (or both). Yet, overall, it needed a few more effective jokes and belly laughs because the gags didn’t always work.
But I really loved the story arc and the platonic chemistry between Lawrence and Feldman. They work well together and it was so sweet seeing Maddie bringing awkward and nerdy Percy out of his shell. But she gets something out of the bargain too – someone who calls her out on her BS and makes her re-evaluate her life.
We already know that Lawrence is a talented dramatic actress and she proved her knack for comedy in American Hustle (I’m thinking of that “science oven” scene) but this is her first attempt at a full-blown raunchy comedy. She is brilliant and really throws herself into the role. Her comedic timing is spot-on and it was so fun to watch her be very silly. Not all of the jokes work but she commits to the gag as much as possible.
Feldman’s Percy has more agency than you might’ve expected and he doesn’t simply go along with everything this hot girl wants to do. He is more of a challenge than Maddie assumes and he holds his own against Lawrence.
No Hard Feelings is the type of comedy that would end up on streaming nowadays. I’m so glad that it got a cinema release because it’s a lot of fun watching this with a crowd of people.
In cinemas now