{"id":19704,"date":"2023-10-23T22:03:45","date_gmt":"2023-10-24T02:03:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=19704"},"modified":"2023-10-23T22:03:45","modified_gmt":"2023-10-24T02:03:45","slug":"film-review-no-hard-feelings-is-a-winning-comedy-with-a-terrific-pair-of-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=19704","title":{"rendered":"Film Review \u2013 \u2018No Hard Feelings\u2019 is a Winning Comedy with a Terrific Pair of Stars"},"content":{"rendered":"

People will do plenty of crazy things for money, especially if they\u2019re desperate. When someone\u2019s livelihood is on the line and they see a way out, morals or consequences aren\u2019t always as considered as perhaps they should be. While it\u2019s easy for those watching to predict a miserable outcome, being in a situation can prevent a sincere and needed analysis of what could go wrong. No Hard Feelings<\/em> <\/strong>smartly ignores any cautionary tales to present an extremely funny and surprisingly heartwarming tale of one woman ready to get what she needs no matter how she has to do it.<\/p>\n

Lifelong Montauk resident Maddie Barker (Jennifer Lawrence) does not have a good track record financially or romantically. When an old flame shows up at her door to tow her car because she hasn\u2019t paid her property taxes, she is distraught, since her main source of income \u2013 driving for Uber \u2013 requires a vehicle. When a friend sees a Craiglist ad from a wealthy couple offering a used car to someone who can pretend to date their son to prepare him for college and the real world, she jumps at the opportunity, unprepared for the challenge of seducing the straight-laced Percy Becker (Andrew Barth Feldman), who couldn\u2019t be more different from her.<\/p>\n

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Macall Polay\/Columbia Pictures<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This film\u2019s setup is hardly sophisticated, and, in less capable hands, could easily have devolved into objectionable ridiculousness. Yet everything works miraculously well, with Gene Stupnitsky showing that he\u2019s very capable of directing crass content following his previous feature, Good Boys<\/em><\/strong>. For a film that\u2019s marketed as a sex comedy, it\u2019s not nearly as graphic or in-your-face as might be expected, but there\u2019s plenty implied as Maddie goes all in on trying to achieve her goal so that she can get back to the business of saving her family home.<\/p>\n

This film works as well as it does in no small part because of its lead actress. Lawrence, who earned her first Oscar nomination at age twenty for Winter\u2019s Bone<\/em><\/strong>, has steadily turned in collaborations with David O. Russell in Silver Linings Playbook<\/em><\/strong>, American Hustle<\/em><\/strong>, and Joy<\/em><\/strong> while headlining the Hunger Games<\/em> franchise and co-starring in multiple X-Men movies. Her somber performance in last year\u2019s Causeway<\/em><\/strong> is the complete opposite of what she\u2019s doing here, which is fully owning each scene and leaning into Maddie\u2019s aggressive and primal side, determined to win at any cost and to take down anyone who gets in her way. She\u2019s firing on all cylinders, and it\u2019s a marvel to behold.<\/p>\n

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Macall Polay\/Columbia Pictures<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lawrence is perfectly matched by her costar Feldman, who makes his feature film debut after a number of successful performances on Broadway, including the title role in Dear Evan Hansen<\/em><\/strong>. He brings a wondrous freshness and heart to the film that is hilarious to watch opposite Lawrence\u2019s domineering presence, and it\u2019s great fun to see him come out of his shell, in part due to bonding with this random woman who wants desperately to have sex with him and just as much because he\u2019s genuinely afraid of her.<\/p>\n

In the supporting cast, Natalie Morales and Scott MacArthur are a delight as Maddie\u2019s close friends who key her in to this scheme, while Laura Benanti and Matthew Broderick are clearly having a good time playing Percy\u2019s parents. Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Kyle Mooney, Hasan Minhaj, and Zahn McClarnon also enhance their brief appearances. This is a film that really knows when to dial up the humor and when to fall back on the drama, and that balance is remarkably well-achieved. While the journey surely could have been filled with more gross-out, boundary-pushing moments, the end result is ultimately quite charming, no small feat for a concept that could just as easily have been paper-thin and forgettable.<\/p>\n

Grade: B+<\/strong><\/p>\n

Check out more of Abe Friedtanzer\u2019s articles<\/a>.<\/p>\n