No Hard Feelings Review

Theatrical Movie Review

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One of my favorite comedies in 2019 was the movie “Good Boys” by writer/director Gene Stupnitsky. I don’t always go for the raunchy comedy genre, but sometimes it works really well, and that was a case where it did. So despite my concerns about the subject matter of Stupnitsky’s newest movie, “No Hard Feelings,” I decided to give it a watch. After all, I loved his last movie, so this one at least had that going for it.

Maddie (Jennifer Lawrence) is struggling to pay the taxes on the home her mother left her, and when her car is repossessed, she can’t drive Uber to pay her bills. That’s when her friend Sara (Natalie Morales) sees an ad on Craigslist from a couple offering a car to anyone who will “date” their son. Maddie goes to meet with Allison (Laura Benanti) and Laird (Matthew Broderick) who tell her that, yes, they mean for her to “date” their son Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman) all the way to help him break out of his shell before he heads to Princeton in the fall.

The ads for this movie led me to believe it was going to be a comedy. Because I had seen Stupnitsky’s previous film, I knew it would likely have a sweetness to it that belied the trailers, but I expected it to be first and foremost a comedy. This was not what I got. Yes, there was comedy in it, but nearly everything that was funny was already in the trailer, minus one fairly long scene with gratuitous nudity. I’m not a prude, but the nudity went way longer than the joke did. 

Instead, we got a story about an age-gap friendship that neglected to actually flesh out the friendship aspect. They have one montage date, and then they are somehow besties. But if you’re going for something more heart-felt, you absolutely have to show more than tell, and this movie opted not to do that.

And it’s a shame, because Lawrence and Feldman have some really great on-screen chemistry together. The two characters definitely help each other grow through the film, and I think if it had given up the “have sex with the kid to get a car” schtick way earlier in the movie, it might have worked, and honestly, I think it could have still been pretty funny. The scene where Maddie was a 32 year old at a party for 19 year olds was pretty hilarious. The truth is, while the age difference is the most controversial part of the movie, I think it could have been what made it work. 

One of my favorite movies last year was “The Valet.” It had similar themes, but the execution was much more focused. It leaned into the absurdity of the premise and that made it sweet and funny. I don’t have any hard feelings toward this movie, I just feel like it was a missed opportunity.

This review originally appeared in The Dominion Post on June 25, 2023.