Directed By Gene Stupnitsky

Starring – Jennifer Lawrence, Andrew Barth Feldman, Matthew Broderick

The Plot – On the brink of losing her childhood home, Maddie (Lawrence) discovers an intriguing job listing: wealthy helicopter parents (Broderick, Laura Benanti) looking for someone to “date” their introverted 19-year-old son, Percy (Feldman), before he leaves for college. To her surprise, Maddie soon discovers the awkward Percy is no sure thing.

Rated R for sexual content, adult language, some graphic nudity and brief drug use

(5) NO HARD FEELINGS – Official Red Band Trailer (HD) – YouTube

POSITIVES

For better or worse, raunchy comedies are mostly a thing of the past, with crude creativity inside of uncomfortable situations that haven’t exactly aged gracefully with contemporary ideals. That mentality looks to change with “No Hard Feelings”, Stupnitsky’s sophomore direction, which unlike his first effort, 2019’s “Good Boys”, combines the craziness of cherished R-rating with a surprisingly ample amount of heart that keeps it from being just another throwaway comedy. That’s not to say that the humor doesn’t land, quite the opposite actually. In my engagement, I was treated to a barrage of impeccably timed gags, unapologetic deliveries, and especially off-beat schenanigans that not only vividly illustrated the awkwardness of the spontaneous relationship between the two characters, but also inscribed an essence in direction for Stupnitsky that feels like a descendant of the Farrelly Brothers at their peak powers. As for the aforementioned heart, the script takes some appreciated directions by the film’s midway point that really help to maximize the potential of the dynamic between Maddie and Percy, bringing a full-fledged evolution in characterization between them that really forces each of them to attack outside of their comfort zone, as a result of what the other is supplanting them. For Maddie, it’s the need to settle down from a rampant lifestyle that has already cost her house and car, in addition to her internal longing for love, and for Percy, it’s Maddie’s desire to bring out the supressed potential from within him, establishing a live-free lifestyle only months before he sets off for his first year of college. The bond between the characters is utilized with an element of transparancy that establishes how comfortable each of them feel around one another, despite the manifestation of their spontaneous relationship being based on one big lie, and while their dynamic might be formed on the perils of romance, its evolution towards an underlining friendship feels all the more vital to the intergrity of the audiences indulgence upon them, vividy fleshing out the aforementioned arcs for each of them that do effectively make each of them feel like different people by the film’s ending. The performances go a long way in enhancing the material, especially from Lawrence’s will to embrace vulnerability in ways that would’ve shattered her only years prior. She’s joined by Andrew Barth Feldman, who in his first starring role supplants enough naturalism in charisma that effortlessly attains believability in molding himself into the character he portrays, instead of the script emphasizing everything that we need to interpret about him.

NEGATIVES

As to where “No Hard Feelings” does attain with it enough heart and humor to carry it across the finish line, there are some uninspired directions with the creativity that continuously stunts its acceleration, mostly in an inferior second half that wiped away most of what was charming enough initially. As previously conveyed, the film has a dramatic evolution that matures the material before our very eyes, sacrificing almost entirely the expressiveness of the comedy that singlehandedly peaked the interest of the audience, in the first place. To be fair, the humor is still present occasionally, but by that point the material has exhausted anything original about its spontaneity, in turn telegraphing a few clever directions to the movie’s climax, as a result of a foreshadow-heavy first act that often alludes to many things that will inevitably materialize. Speaking of the comedic beats themselves, though the film is rated-R and features a couple of sequences that creatively push the envelope, a majority of “No Hard Feelings” proceeds cautiously in rarely captializing on the magnitude of the rating, leaving it falling a bit bland after a trailer promised such unabashed ruthlessness. I can certainly understand that even a raunchy comedy can’t be consistently that at all times, but I feel like this film is one easy re-write away from being a heavy-handed PG-13 enveloping, and one that isn’t just memorable because of Lawrence’s full-frontal nudity, which will inevitably only earn it a reputation on Mr. Skin’s website. Finally, while the film clocks in at a brief 98 minutes with a constant moving of the narrative, the motions themselves are slightly too abrupt, undercutting vital story beats that easily deserved more time towards properly fleshing out. I can certainly point to plenty of aspects that echo my assessment, but particularly I speak of the characterization paid to Maddie and Percy, with underwritten elements of their histories barely explored in anything other than expository dialogue. Maddie’s arc with her estranged father feels shallow in surface level exploration, while Percy’s smothering by his overly protective parents feels like it all but leads to an inevitable confrontation between them, before abandoning it completely. There’s even strange instances with the script that feels like a scene or two of importance was left on the cutting room floor, mainly Maddie’s van, which is there for the first thirty minutes of the movie, before disappearing completely from the spectrum, with one scene even conveying that Maddie can’t get to Princeton to visit Percy because she doesn’t have wheels to get there.

OVERALL
“No Hard Feelings” is a fitting return to form for the raunchy comedy genre, even if inferior elements to its creativity and capitalization keep it from being anywhere close to the best that the genre has to offer. With an attention-stealing performance from Lawrence candidly playing against type, as well as an abundance of heart and humor that establish something meaningful beyond the off-beat shenanigans, Stupnitsky is able to find a comfortable medium that keeps the pulse of his project pounding, deriving depth from dumb in ways that the Farrelly Brothers made prominent careers from.

My Grade: 6/10 or C