The Pitch: When we first meet Montauk townie and Uber driver Maddie Barker (Jennifer Lawrence), she’s getting her car towed. She hasn’t been paying her taxes and the bills are racking up, so she’s forced to get a little “creative” with how she earns her livelihood — or find a way to get a car for cheap.
She stumbles upon a Craigslist post from two wealthy helicopter parents (Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti), who want to hire a woman to “date” their 19-year-old son Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman) and instill him with more confidence and drive before he heads off to Princeton in the fall. In return, they’ll offer her a 20-year-old Buick, which will allow her to profit off of the tourist-heavy Long Island summer and save her late mother’s house (it’s a really nice house).
Directed and co-written by Gene Stupnitsky, who is no stranger to coming-of-age films, sex comedies, or otherwise awkward-but-raunchy fare, No Hard Feelings is intended to be a fun and flirty rom-com that highlights Jennifer Lawrence’s comedic prowess. And while Lawrence is certainly funny in the film, it ends up being a really wonderful showcase for Andrew Barth Feldman, who began his professional career at 16 with a leading role in Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway. As for the loaded concept of a 32-year-old woman taking a 19-year-old’s virginity just for a car, well, the filmmakers have an answer for that: Don’t sweat it!
They Don’t Make ‘Em Like This Anymore: Some of the more interesting choices in No Hard Feelings lie simply in the style and genre of the film. In 2023, the days of the hyper-masculine studio sex comedies are (deservingly) long gone — films like Road Trip or Sex Drive or even Stupnitsky’s own Bad Teacher feel wildly out of place in our current entertainment landscape, especially considering the way our culture has transformed to hold very detailed, developed ideas around sexual politics. We’ve moved on from men depicting rampant horniness as a comedic tool, because in the real world, rampant straight male horniness can be perceived as a legitimate threat.
So, No Hard Feelings attempts to revive aspects of the genre while also trying to turn some of these “male gaze” moments on their head. When Maddie first tries to seduce the very shy, introverted Percy, she assumes that any straight teenage boy would be falling at her feet — so she styles herself in a bombshell outfit, comes on very strong, and tries to get the sex part of it over with as soon as she can.
But what she doesn’t realize is that it’s actually normal for Percy to feel intimidated and overwhelmed by her advances. For Percy and his generation, sex, intimacy, and connection are loaded, almost ethereal concepts — and with so much of their social experiences taking place online or virtually, it’s less emotionally risky to stay inside and pine than to put themselves out there. For the millennial Maddie, sex is transactional, and she feels like Percy (and men in general) would have no problem subscribing to that belief. But Percy is not coming of age in the boom of “hookup culture,” and sex means something much more vulnerable — so, he requires that they get to know each other and form a connection before he “puts out.”
No Hard Feelings (Sony)
The filmmakers definitely hammer in this role reversal, and their uncommon match is highlighted well by the repeated use of Hall & Oats’ “Maneater.” There’s something fascinating about Percy being resigned to this attractive, intimidating woman, unable to fully access his own agency, and sheltered to the point of ambivalence — until he finally steps into his own towards the end of the film.
I Volunteer As Tribute: Let’s talk about Jennifer Lawrence. She’s funny. You could tell in the hysteria of one of her most recent films, Don’t Look Up, that she has comedic chops. As evidenced by her Oscar-nominated turns in David O. Russell films, she also can stretch the boundaries between a blown-out caricature and a crushingly real person. In No Hard Feelings, she conducts herself with a pleasant kind of freedom and play — whether that’s her struggling to commute on roller skates, playing a rather predatory seductress in her first encounters with Percy, slinging out quick, raunchy one-liners, or fighting a group of drunken beach thieves while totally naked.
But we also know from her David O. Russell films that her performances hinge upon the quality of the writing. In No Hard Feelings, Maddie is an anti-hero of sorts; Stupnitsky and co-writer John Phillips go out of their way to establish her motivations and overall desperation, establishing that her inability to commit to lasting relationships comes from her biological father abandoning her and her ailing mother. But as the plot thickens and Maddie brings Percy further into the deep end, it gets much harder to root for her, and way easier to root for Percy.
Stupnitsky and Phillips attempt to have Maddie redeem herself in the final third, but something still feels off in the final denouement. It’s almost like they do all of this work to show that sex and relationships mean something totally different to Percy, and that the cost of manipulating him is greater than the prize (literally a car)… just to gloss over the reality of the fallout.
No Hard Feelings (Sony)
The Verdict: While the jokes in No Hard Feelings definitely land, there’s still a bit of sloppiness from the filmmakers here. They acknowledge the generational divide even between millennials and Gen Z when it comes to attitudes around sex, but they don’t fully commit to their exploration. There’s a lot to be said about a 32-year-old woman publicly dating a 19-year-old boy, from both perspectives — there are some real psychosexual politics at play, and rather than use jokes to illuminate this potentially dangerous dynamic, they would rather just ignore it (there isn’t a single step-mom or Oedipus complex joke in this entire film — maybe a missed opportunity?).
Perhaps it’s best that Stupnitsky et al don’t linger on the reality of a relationship like Maddie and Percy’s, letting the script’s overall levity and idyllic Montauk setting keep the film moving at a brisk, breezy pace. Both Lawrence and Feldman don’t necessarily have “romantic” chemistry, but they play off each other perfectly. It’s a great opportunity for Lawrence to not take herself so seriously and lean into a totally different comedic style — considering how essential it was for her career to follow up her Oscar-winning performance 11 years ago with similarly tortured, dramatic displays, it’s a smart choice for Lawrence to keep finding the fun and expand her audience’s impression of her abilities and persona.
But No Hard Feelings ends up belonging to Andrew Barth Feldman, who very soon may be one of Hollywood’s go-to leading men (following his year-long stint as the titular role in Dear Evan Hansen). Despite the script’s slightly jumbled ending, Feldman aces his character’s transformation, and finds dozens of moments to truly shine — particularly exercising his Broadway chops midway through the film with a stunning rendition of “Maneater” on the piano.
While the film’s title (and ending) suggests that there will be no bad blood between the two, it’s clear in No Hard Feelings that it’s purely fantasy — and while there’s a lot to delight in, the film would be much bolder and better if it kept its feet in the sand instead of its head in the clouds.
Where to Watch: No Hard Feelings rolls into theaters on June 23rd.
Trailer:
