Film Review: NO HARD FEELINGS (2023): Jennifer Lawrence’s Raunchy Comedy Starts Strong but Loses its Way

No Hard Feelings Review

No Hard Feelings (2023) Film Review, a movie directed by Gene Stupnitsky, written by John Phillips and Gene Stupnitsky and starring Jennifer Lawrence, Andrew Barth Feldman, Laura Benanti, Matthew Broderick, Natalie Morales, Scott MacArthur, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Kyle Mooney, Hasan Minhaj, Jordan Mendoza, Amalia Yoo, Alysia Joy Powell, Quincy Dunn-Baker, Matthew Noszka, Zahn McClarnon, Christian Galvis and Matt Walton.

The Farrelly Brothers set the standard for a successful “R-rated” comedy back in 1998 with the brilliant There’s Something About Mary. Cameron Diaz was terrific playing the main role of that raunchy comedy which never became sensitive enough for audiences to forget that they were watching a sharp comedy. Jennifer Lawrence is seemingly trying to duplicate the success of that Farrelly Brothers masterpiece with her role as Maddie Barker in Gene Stupnitsky’s No Hard Feelings. For almost an hour, Stupnitsky’s film is on the level of the best of The Farrelly Brothers’ work until the new picture gets wishy-washy with sappy sentimentality.

Lawrence has a field day playing Maddie whose car is being towed by a disgruntled ex-lover (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as the film begins. Maddie tries to soothe her ex over but a hunk (Christina Galvis) appears to prove that Maddie isn’t wasting any time pining over any lost boyfriends. Maddie is an Uber driver and depends on her car to make the money she so desperately needs to pay the taxes on the home her mom left her. Afraid of losing her house, Maddie answers an ad placed by a rich couple, Laird and Allison Becker (Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti). This ad promises a Buick to the woman who can “date” Laird and Allison’s teenage, college-bound son, Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman). “Date him hard,” Laird tells Maddie after giving her the job after some brief hesitation regarding Maddie’s somewhat older age.

Maddie goes to see Percy who spends time working for a dog kennel and hilariously moves the couch forward during an interview with him. Maddie wants to seduce him which is easier said than done. In a hilarious moment, Maddie asks to see Percy’s “weiner.” His dog, that is, of course. Funny stuff, indeed. Percy is uptight and not so ready to dive into any kind of physical intimacy with a woman who he hardly knows so if Maddie wants that car, she will have her work cut out for her and to land Percy in bed, she will have to work overtime. And, that she does hard.

Jennifer Lawrence bears it all in a hysterically funny scene where she aggressively deals with some people who steal Maddie and Percy’s clothes when they end up skinny-dipping together on the beach. A nude scene like this is a Hollywood rarity and to Lawrence’s credit, she nails it making it a very fun sequence to watch. Before that, Percy sprays poor Maddie with mace and that makes for more hilarity as well and each scenario that occurs gets more and more bizarre than the last one. This feels like Farrelly Brothers territory and succeeds for a bit. Percy starts to like Maddie and then the mechanics of the plot take over as does syrupy sentimentality and a lot of the points Stupnitsky was aiming to make get lost among the syrup.

It seems Maddie is desperate and will do what she has to in order to keep her home even if that means selling out. Lawrence captures that desperation as she starts riding around in roller blades and she even walks up the stairs to her job interview in skates in a funny bit. Stupnitsky loses sight of her desperation and turns her into a sentimental wreck as the plot develops. It’s a character transformation well done by Lawrence but not what comedy fans may be hoping for.

The supporting cast is mostly fine. Natalie Morales as Maddie’s best friend has some truly inspired moments as does Scott MacArthur as the friend’s husband. Matthew Broderick is OK in a turn that could have been more. Andrew Barth Feldman does everything right in his performance as the son who was heading off to college but may be changing as a person thanks to his interaction with Maddie. Percy believes Maddie genuinely likes him and although the plot makes her grow fond of him, a better comedy would have ran with the premise that this is just business for Maddie.

No Hard Feelings is really funny for a lot of the opening portions of the movie. It’s enjoyable to watch Lawrence go through her comic paces. When we signed up for The Farrelly Brothers’ There’s Something About Mary, we got the best and, at times, a cynical comedy that ultimately made viewers love every minute of it. Think of the jerk played by Matt Dillon, think of the zipper scene, remember the hair gel scene? That was “R-rated” comedy greatness. No Hard Feelings has too much goodness in its heart to run with the material it initially presents and it’s a shame. Jennifer Lawrence always tries new things, though, and she has a good rapport with Feldman which makes both characters likable. Too bad they weren’t in a different movie or the one this one promised to be at the beginning. It’s a close call but it’s only worth seeing if you can stand the sappiness that comes along with the sex jokes.

Rating: 6.5/10

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