No Hard Feelings (2023) Review!!

Synopsis – On the brink of losing her home, Maddie finds an intriguing job listing: helicopter parents looking for someone to bring their introverted 19-year-old son out of his shell before college. She has one summer to make him a man or die trying.

My Take – It’s been a while since we have seen the once dominant sub-genre of sex comedies in cinemas.

Hence, it came as quite a surprise when it was announced that much loved Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence would be heading back to the big screen to headline director Gene Stupnitsky’s latest, whose previous film, the Jacob Tremblay-headlined Good Boys (2019), heralded itself as the new Superbad (2007).

And the resulting film is exactly what one would expect it to be – an old school romantic comedy with something a little bit “extra” thrown in, and also manages to be totally politically incorrect. Acting as throwback to the rom-coms of the early 2000s, the film is sprinkled with both comical and romantic moments, but at its center is a coming of age drama that achieves what it sets out to do.

Yes, it is not as raunchy as its marketing promised it to be, yet it contains enough laughs and predictably satisfying arcs throughout the course of its run time to remain an entertaining watch.

While the film has found controversy for promoting sexual grooming and the abuse of men, with the argument being if the roles were reversed and a 32-year-old man was paid by a 19-year-old girl’s parents to seduce her, the film would not even have got made, but despite the intentionally icky premise, the film plays it super safe for a sex comedy as Lawrence makes patently silly scenes work with buckets of her talent.

The story follows Maddie Barker (Jennifer Lawrence), a 32-year-old Uber driver and bartender who has fallen on desperate times. Her car has been repossessed because she owes property taxes on her deceased mother’s house. The only home which she has ever known, nestled into a high-end community at the eastern tip of Long Island in Montauk, NY. A place which has been seeing rise in taxes as rich families from New York City have been constantly moving in, making it difficult for the locals to live there anymore.

However, a solution to her troubles arrives in the form of an unusual Craigslist posting. Which sees a pair of helicopter parents, Laird Becker (Matthew Broderick) and Allison Becker (Laura Benanti), offering their Buick to any woman who can date their reclusive 19-year-old son, Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman), and make him ready to take on the world, before heading to Princeton.

Though Maddie is older than they hoped, she pleads her case and they give her the job with the stipulation that Percy can’t know about the arrangement. But as their friendship develops, Maddie begins to discover things about herself she never thought of before.

It’s not the worst set up I’ve ever seen in a comedy, but does allow for plenty of comedic scenarios and is actually a pretty funny film, with numerous laugh out loud moments. It helps that Gene Stupnitsky‘s direction is really good, making sure the central premise never gets uncomfortable in undesired ways, adding some clever inversions for a few memorable jokes and keeping the film light on its feet thanks to a couple of montages as well.

Importantly, director Stupnitsky and co-writer John Phillips’s script is surprisingly adept at navigating the somewhat complex power dynamics of this decade-age-gap, sex-work-aligned situation. More than that, though, the film has a great emotional through-line.

In between the comedy, Percy and Maddie share some truly genuine moments with particularly the scene in the restaurant featuring the song “Maneater” being a standout. While this is sort of a coming of age story for Percy, it is oddly even more so for Maddie and the transformation of these two characters is heartwarming and special. It goes to show you, how the right person could change your perspective on life.

Sure, there are no steamy sex scenes, yet despite that, the film is pretty much a sex comedy at heart with Maddie using her ravishing appeal to lure the viewers in, and Percy’s reluctance to have intercourse with someone without getting to know them makes for a fairly funny back-and-forth.

However, the wildest moment in the film is an absolutely bonkers fight scene that is both unexpected and a riot; it’s really the only sequence that warrants the film’s R-rating. To tee it up without saying too much, some of Maddie’s possessions are stolen by a group of teens while she’s skinny dipping in the ocean and she immediately goes after them.

But the film mainly works because Jennifer Lawrence can switch seamlessly from irresistibly hot to hilariously clumsy. She is hilarious here and you can tell she had an absolute blast making this. Lawrence stole every scene she was in and some of the delivery of her lines were brilliant. Andrew Barth Feldman is also great, his awkwardness never becomes annoying, and instead it’s always endearing and funny.

In other roles, Natalie Morales, Matthew Broderick, Laura Benanti, Scott MacArthur, Jordan Mendoza, Hasan Minhaj and Ebon Moss-Bachrach provide good support. On the whole, ‘No Hard Feelings’ is a raunchy old school rom-com anchored by Jennifer Lawrence‘s goofy act.