Movie Review: 'No Hard Feelings' is So Funny
Jennifer Lawrence is fearless and hilarious in new comedy, No Hard Feelings.
No Hard Feelings (2023)
Directed by Gene Stupnitsky
Written by Gene Stupnitsky
Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Andrew Barth Feldman, Natalie Morales, Matthew Broderick
Release Date June 23rd, 2023
Published June 23rd, 2023
No Hard Feelings is absolutely hysterical. Starring Jennifer Lawrence as a struggling Uber driver trying to save her home after losing her car to an asset seizure, the film takes raunchy comedy on a ride that never stops being hilariously funny. As Maddie Barker, Lawrence finds herself in danger of losing her home unless she can find a way to get a new car fast. That's when serendipity strikes. A rich family is offering an older but still good looking mid-sized Sedan for a strange but reasonable price.
What makes it strange? The price is dating the family's teenage son, Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman). And by date, Percy's parents, Laird (Matthew Broderick) and Allison (Laura Benanti), mean having sex with him. Helicopter parents to the extreme. As Laird explains, he had an experience when he was Percy's age that changed his life, brought him out of his shell, and led him to become rich, successful, and now happily married. He hopes that his son having a similar experience, even if it is paid for, will have the same effect on him.
If this premise is a problem for you, then this movie is not for you. No Hard Feelings is uncompromising in the opinion that there is absolutely nothing wrong with Maddie trading sex for a vehicle. She's a grown woman who is in charge of her body and her decisions and she has no problem doing what she needs to do to save her childhood home. We live in a deeply screwed up version of capitalism that leads to this type of situation, one in which the poor have to fight for the scraps of the very, very rich by any means necessary, but this movie isn't about that, at least not directly.
No, this is a sex comedy that is about two oddball characters coming to a place of understanding all while suffering through various comic indignities, one funnier than the next. The key to No Hard Feelings is the performance of young Andrew Barth Feldman. This character could be a quite typical Hollywood take on a shy, nerdy, dork. But, as played by Feldman, there is a depth to his hurt and pain that makes sense. He's gawky and deeply awkward, but he's mostly just sheltered by choice; the outside world hasn't been kind to him while the world of online gaming welcomes him in anonymity.
Feldman is a sweet kid and his performance opens up Lawrence's Maddie in lovely and revealing ways. That said, the key to Lawrence's performance is fearlessness. She's not afraid of being the subject of the joke. She's gorgeous and she knows it but she's also willing to take the L and look like the bad guy. She plays the fool but does so with charismatic aplomb. Mostly, she's a forthright, self-possessed woman with a great deal of determination and a very big heart. As she grows and comes to care about Feldman, as a friend, her conflicted emotions soften into a genuine empathy.
Yes, the film is headed exactly where you think, the ruse is revealed in the most expected fashion and feelings are hurt. That said, everything is so much fun that even the familiar tropes feel fresh. The film's rudimentary elements, introducing and paying off ideas in big ways, tend to end in big laughs. A scene in the film's trailer in which Maddie and Percy go skinny dipping keeps building comic tension until it explodes with some shocking nudity and very funny violence.
My favorite payoff in the film however, involves a Finger Trap. I did not see the payoff of this Finger Trap bit coming at all. It's a terrifically over the top piece of comedy with Lawrence, once again, showing off her comedic bravery, timing, and charisma. Lawrence has several huge, well earned laughs in No Hard Feelings but its this this scene ends in one of the biggest laughs, for me, of 2023. No Hard Feelings is raunchy but also genuine, empathetic, and fearlessly committed to its unusual comic premise. I loved this movie.
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About the Creator
Sean Patrick
Hello, my name is Sean Patrick He/Him, and I am a film critic and podcast host for the I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast I am a voting member of the Critics Choice Association, the group behind the annual Critics Choice Awards.
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Comments (4)
Adding another comment cuz I just read a Vogue article titled “Why Aren’t More People Acknowledging How Wildly Problematic No Hard Feelings Is?” because I think doing a response review to this would be so interesting. Especially since it seems like Vogue isn’t looking at any of the nuances that you are, and are focusing on the overarching idea rather than the story and the characters and the way they interact. While they may have some points, they don’t go into the deeper aspects and take certain lines out of context and totally miss the mark on why certain characters say or do certain things.
Great review, I think you might have a crush on Jennifer Lawrence 👌😉
Glad to hear! I loved “No Hard Feelings” too. The leads are great as you have mentioned, but I also liked some of the supporting characters too. I honestly don’t think I’ve laughed this much in a film for ages.
I’ve been really looking forward to this movie and super excited about seeing it, and this review has just made me even more pumped for it! It sounds like it really brought something fresh to a near timeless trope. You did an awesome job at describing it in such detail without giving anything away! I really appreciate how efficient your reviews are too. They keep my attention, aren’t too long but give so much to the reader! Thank you for another rad review!