No Hard Feelings follows down on her luck Maddie as she dates shy Percy for his parents in order to save her mother’s house. Starring Jennifer Lawrence and Andrew Barth Feldman, No Hard Feelings packs in some good, raunchy laughs while still hitting home on some more emotional beats.
Lawrence definitely elevates No Hard Feelings. She was very funny while being a flawed, depressing character. Her thing is that she never left home because of her family situation and she runs from commitment. She is driven to do the things she does out of desperation but is still at her core good. Feldman matches her with his super shy, awkward child of helicopter parents.
It’s crazy that he’s portrayed like that by just liking his alone time, not really interacting with others. Normally movies really try to ham it up but Feldman didn’t make it feel pathetic. It’s a little offputting that this type of behavior was cause for concern, but in the context of having helicopter parents, it makes some sense why they’d react like that.
I didn’t realize Feldman could sing, because he sings an absolutely beautiful rendition of “Maneater” by Hall and Oates. It was at a pivotal emotional scene, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t falling for his voice.
This is a very raunchy movie as you could expect. The whole story revolves around Maddie needing to sleep with Percy so she can get a car to do her job. Some of the jokes play into this, while some fell flat, most were really funny.
As part of the story, the relationship feels forced. Obviously, the age gap plays a role, but there’s only so much chemistry you can have to overlook it. Once the ending rolls in and their relationship has changed, it got better. I really liked the scenes where they were just talking about themselves and why they are the way that they are.
Final Thoughts
The story is pretty standard but again, I had fun watching No Hard Feelings. Jennifer Lawrence keeps on proving that she’s one of the best leading ladies as she adds this performance to her bag. Feldman does his best to match and it made this movie one of the funnier watches of 2023.
