‘No Hard Feelings’: Review

Dir: Gene Stupnitsky. US. 2023. 103mins

Aspiring to be a raucous comedy with unexpected heart, No Hard Feelings is the thoughtful, uneven second feature from Good Boys director Gene Stupnitsky, starring Jennifer Lawrence as Maddie, a commitment-phobic screwup who answers an ad to date socially awkward 19-year-old Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman). In between the nudity and four-letter words, the film looks seriously at grief, arrested development and economic inequality, and there’s a sweet rapport between the two leads. A series of irritating plot twists and a predictable trajectory ultimately undercut Lawrence’s bravely brash portrait of a woman going nowhere fast.

No Hard Feelings appears to be a crazy sex comedy but, in reality, is a fairly sentimental story about insecure characters with good hearts

This Sony release opens in the UK on June 21, landing in US theatres two days later. No Hard Feelings will be a test of whether raunchy comedies still have a place at the multiplex — the film is rated a 15 in the UK and R in the US — with Stupnitsky’s similarly risque Good Boys grossing $111 million worldwide. Industry observers will also be looking to see if Lawrence’s box-office clout remains potent, although early tracking suggests No Hard Feelings may be a soft commercial performer. 

Maddie has lived in touristy Montauk, New York her entire life, resentful of the rich Manhattanites who swarm into the town during the summers. Desperate for money so that she won’t lose her family’s house — which her sainted single mother left her before she died — 32-year-old Maddie agrees to pretend to be interested in Percy (Feldman), a dorky high-school senior whose wealthy parents (Laura Benanti, Matthew Broderick) want him to have a little real-world experience before heading to Princeton. They hire Maddie to ‘date’ their son, offering her a much-needed car for her Uber job if she has sex with him to boost his confidence.

Not unlike Good Boys, No Hard Feelings appears to be a crazy sex comedy but, in reality, is a fairly sentimental story about insecure characters with good hearts. Indeed, as calculated as Maddie’s initial attempts are to seduce this shy, awkward virgin, we have little doubt that she’ll come to care about him — and that he will teach her a few things about life as well. 

In the film’s early reels, Stupnitsky (who co-wrote the screenplay) and Lawrence (who’s one of No Hard Feelings’ producers) have fun exploring what a callous jerk Maddie can be. Incapable of staying in a relationship for more than a few months and seemingly content to waste her life in odd jobs in Montauk, Maddie has never gotten over a secret childhood trauma that will be revealed in due course — and will help explain why she is so antagonistic to the rich out-of-towners who are driving up prices and forcing working-class people like herself out of the community. Lawrence brings a swaggering bombshell energy when Maddie woos the teen but. once we see more of the character’s vulnerability, the Oscar-winning actress dials down the broad comedy to be more grounded and broken as Maddie begins to realise just how much of a mess she is.

The film gets some comic mileage out of the friction between the two leads’ very different personalities. The sexually confident Maddie tries to get Percy to lower his inhibitions, which proves exceedingly difficult considering how scared he is of everything — especially women. As one might guess, No Hard Feelings goes for shock laughs, including a naked fight scene and some sultry dancing that doesn’t go as planned. Lawrence is admirably shameless in the role, exuding a sexy slapstick energy that’s often riskier and more satisfying than the scenes she is in. Her down-to-earth authenticity is better served by the picture’s later shift to a wistful tone, when Feldman can connect to her on a more realistic level. 

As much as No Hard Feelings attempts to capitalise on its moderately bawdy premise — sarcastic 32-year-old tries to bed sheltered 19-year-old — the film isn’t actually all that provocative. The characters’ age difference generates a few laughs, not to mention some pathos when Maddie finds herself surrounded by Percy’s peers, suddenly recognising that she is too old to remain so directionless. At its core, No Hard Feelings is a study of two people trying to find themselves, but Stupnitsky cheapens that sentiment with convoluted narrative complications meant to bring about the inevitable happy ending. This sex comedy has more going on than one might suspect, but it too often substitutes smut for smarts.