Review: No Hard Feelings

Image courtesy of Sony Pictures.

Movie theaters were flooded with comedies like "No Hard Feelings" just several years ago - but raunchy, slightly impolitic films of this sort have mostly all but disappeared, although the existence of this picture and trailers for "Joy Ride" and "Strays" suggest they're making a slight comeback. 

While I'm not necessarily sure that's a good thing - many of these previous types of films felt as if they were trying too hard to be outrageous and, in the process, forgot to be funny - this new Jennifer Lawrence comedy has its share of hardy laughs, even if the overall picture feels like we've seen it all before - well, sort of.

As the film opens, commitment-phobe and all-around screwup Maddie (Lawrence) is falling behind on the payments for her mother's house. Maddie has lived in Long Island's Montauk community her whole life and smirks at the rich families who move in for the summer and leave in the fall. Her mother died some years back, her father was a non-presence, and she has left a string of failed relationships in her wake.

At the film's beginning, an ex driving a tow truck hauls off the car that Maddie uses to earn a living - she's an Uber driver - and she's left with a conundrum as to how she'll save her mother's house. She spots a bizarre ad regarding a rich couple (Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti) who want to hire a young woman to date their dorky son (Andrew Barth Feldman) and give him some life experience - among other things - before he leaves for college.

Maddie secures the gig - if that's the right word - and instantly begins playing the sexpot as she introduces herself to Percy (Feldman) at the animal rescue shelter where he works. Percy is sweet but awkward and his first reaction to her coming on to him in the slightly creepy van she is borrowing from a friend and driving Percy home in leads him to believe he's being kidnapped, and his response is to mace her.

Against all odds - and, most likely, flying in the face of all that's likely - the two become friends, with Maddie all the while trying to come up with ways to seduce the young man - he's 19 years old, which also makes him a little old for someone who's several months away from starting college - so that she can fulfill the duties of her job and get paid.

The film has its share of laughs - the awkward introduction at the shelter, an even more awkward first date at a bar, and a skinny dipping scene that results in a somewhat shocking visual gag. Lawrence goes all in on the outrageous elements of the film's humor, but there's something slightly missing here. The central duo make for a decent comedic team, but their relationship never feels like more than the setup for a series of jokes. 

Percy's character is full of inconsistencies - he notes that he has no friends but then seems completely comfortable running into someone he knows at a restaurant and later, albeit assisted by a few drinks, attending a party for incoming Yale students. The dramas that develop between the characters - Maddie and Percy, Percy and his parents, etc. - also feel as if they were recycled from the comedy movie factory, rather than come off as organic.

So, while "No Hard Feelings" is far from perfect, it has its moments, most of which are built upon the absurdity of the film's central premise and the actors' ability to run with it with mostly straight faces. Lawrence is always a welcome presence in a movie, even if the work she has taken on since returning from her acting hiatus - this film and the overrated "Don't Look Up" - haven't ranked among the best films in which she has starred. Regardless, "No Hard Feelings" is bound to elicit a few well-earned chuckles.