Jennifer Lawrence makes her first foray into comedy with Gene Stupnitsky’s raunchy movie.
After proving herself as a dramatic actress, Jennifer Lawrence has turned to comedy with No Hard Feelings.
Gene Stupnitsky’s film tells the story of Maddie (Lawrence), a 32-year-old woman who has lived in the New York holiday destination of Montauk her entire life.
She lives in her late mum’s house, ditches guys whenever they get too attached, and makes a living as an Uber driver and bartender.
After her car is impounded, preventing her from making her Uber money, Maddie answers an ad on Craigslist posted by parents Laird and Allison (Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti).
They want a woman to date their nerdy 19-year-old son Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman) and bring him out of his shell before university.
Some people have found the concept of this movie gross and it probably wouldn’t have made if the gender roles were reversed. However, it is worth noting that No Hard Feelings as a whole is pretty different to the trailer and how it has been promoted.
Sex and raunchiness aren’t actually the main focus and it plays the concept very safe.
The story is mostly about the blossoming friendship between Maddie and Percy and the platonic chemistry between Lawrence and Feldman captures this wonderfully – they riff off each other so well.
The characters experience some existential revelations as a result of their unusual situation and the narrative becomes rather heartfelt as it progresses.
Lawrence throws herself into this role, commits to every gag as much as possible and her comedic timing and line delivery are spot-on.
Feldman may be lesser-known but he holds his own against the A-list star and contributes heavily to the laughs too.
The only downside to No Hard Feelings is that it needed a few more jokes. There are some laugh-out-loud moments and hilarious setpieces but it could have done with some more. That being said, this is still a lot of fun to watch in the cinema with a crowd.
Raunchy sex comedies like No Hard Feelings don’t get made much anymore and that is a shame because they are highly entertaining. If this is any indication, Lawrence needs to make more comedies, pronto!
In cinemas now.
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