A One Mann’s Movies review of “No Hard Feelings” (2023).
You can’t argue that Jennifer Lawrence is an actor unafraid to exhibit ‘range’ in her work! In “No Hard Feelings”, the Oscar-winner (for “Silver Linings Playbook”) turns her hand to a screwball sex comedy. And though it won’t be to everyone’s tastes, I certainly found it a fun and engaging movie.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Plot Summary:
Maddie Barker (Jennifer Lawrence) is a girl in trouble. Here house is at risk of foreclosure. And as an Uber driver, her source of income has just been cut off when her car is towed. Help comes from an unlikely source when rich ‘helicopter parents’, Laird and Allison Becker (Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti) advertise for a “girlfriend” for their gamer-son Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman) to help bring him out of his shell and prep him for college life.
Certification:
UK: 15; US: R. (From the BBFC web site: “Very strong language, strong sex references, crude humour”.)
Talent:
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Andrew Barth Feldman, Matthew Broderick, Laura Benanti, Natalie Morales, Scott MacArthur.
Directed by: Gene Stupnitsky.
Written by: Gene Stupnitsky & John Phillips.
Twitter Handle: #NoHardFeelings.
“I’ll date his brains out”! Jennifer Lawrence as Maddie and Andrew Barth Feldman as Percy, getting on like a house on fire. (Source: Sony Pictures Entertainment).
“No Hard Feelings” Review:
Positives:
- Let me start this section by giving kudos to whoever came up with the film’s title, which is excellent!
- Comedy is clearly a very subjective thing, but this well surpassed the “6-laughs test” for me. The illustrious Mrs Movie Man was laughing too. The comedy is of the raunchy variety (think “Booksmart“, “Sex Tape“, Superbad etc.). And to enjoy the comedy you need to set your morals to “low” given that the lead character is effectively prostituting herself for financial gain: a “Vag for hire” as her friend Sara (Natalie Morales) puts it. (There is actually an interesting discussion in the script about the rights of women to do what they like with their bodies, including sex work.)
- Underneath all of the screwball ‘edgy’ comedy though is a soft-centred story with well-rounded and interesting characters. I actually ending up caring what happened to both the hapless Percy and the equally adrift Maddie.
- Lawrence is clearly an actor of great stature and some might argue “why is she stooping to doing stuff like this”. (There are precedents, such as Robert de Niro doing “Dirty Grandpa” which WAS a truly terrible idea). But Lawrence manages to extract pathos out of the story and the ending of the film I found quite moving as she acts it so well. The adverts say “See Jennifer Lawrence as you’ve never seen her before” and they are not wrong. Unless there was “Deep Fake” technology employed**, she goes stark naked and full-frontal in a beach fight-scene that makes you think, for a 32-year old, she must spend a lot of time at the gym!
** The reason I raise this thought is that in a later scene, in bed, she is caught wearing a skin-coloured top over her breasts during a scene where (as made clear) she is supposed to be naked. Why let it all hang out on the beach and then have this modesty when filming the bedroom scene?
Negatives:
- There are inevitably some of the jokes that just don’t land.
- The character of the “nanny”, Jody (Kyle Mooney), feels like a poorly written role. I’m not sure what it was there for and added nothing to the plot or the comedy value.
Summary Thoughts on “No Hard Feelings”
It’s light and fluffy and its not going to win any Oscars. But as a raunchy summer comedy film, of the likes of “Booksmart” or “Sex Tape“, matched with a deeper and thought-provoking story, it fitted the bill well for me.
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Trailer for “No Hard Feelings”
The trailer is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P15S6ND8kbQ .
