The sex comedy had something of a revival under director/producer Judd Apatow starting with The 40 Year Old Virgin, a surprisingly sweet movie given the subject matter. The basic premise is generally to take the movie’s protagonist, have them maybe attempt to get laid for one reason or another, and then have them somehow progress to be better people. It’s not a bad formula when it’s done right, and Apatow in particular has used it to take various comedians and allow them to show what they can do in a lead role. But what about putting an A-list actor in that sort of role?
That’s the best way I could think of to introduce Jennifer Lawrence’s new R-rated sex comedy No Hard Feelings.
Lifelong resident of Montauk, New York Maddie (Lawrence) has a problem: she is behind on her property taxes, and the county has repossessed her car. She inherited the house, paid for outright, from her late mother, but she needs the car to work as an Uber driver since her bartending job won’t cover those expenses. The problem for Maddie is the area has undergone gentrification, and the increased number of wealthy homeowners has sent the taxes sky high. Maddie isn’t overly fond of these people, but there is something that can maybe get her what she wants: rich helicopter parents Allison (Laura Benanti) and Laird Becker (Matthew Broderick) need someone to date their incredibly introverted son Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman). Percy’s parents want him to lose his virginity before he goes away to college in the fall, and if Maddie can get that done, she can have a mostly brand new Buick. Maddie needs the car to keep her house, so she accepts.
There are some conditions: Maddie can’t tell Percy his parents hired her, and she gets nothing if someone else beats her to the punch. Maddie’s attempts to seduce the shy young man gets off to a rough start, but she may be gradually coming to actually like him as a person. She has some issues of her own that she needs to work through while he needs to cut the cord on his parents, so to speak. What happens if Percy falls for Maddie? And can she really do all this for a car? How much will she do to save her house?
That Apatow comparison above is pretty apt. This movie does very much follow his formula, right down to the third act montage showing the characters getting their acts together and progressing through their personal problems. What makes this one stand out a bit is Lawrence. She’s done comedy before, but she’s not known as a comedic actor. That said, she’s does make for a charming lead, and she knows how to deliver a good line. At around the halfway point in the movie when she starts to realize what she’s agreed to do and even tries to do things “right” with Percy, it works because she’s a strong actor who knows how to show concern with her face without spelling it out for the audience. If anything, she’s probably too good for a movie like this.
However, she is in this, and it helps that Feldman makes a good match for her. The connection isn’t really romantic or anything, but there’s something there. Given the subject matter, while there is some raunchy humor, there isn’t a lot of it. It’s, like many of these sorts of movies, about the two characters learning to grow up a bit, including the thirtysomething Maddie. I liked this, but I think it would work better if you saw it with a good sized crowd of likeminded viewers. My 9AM matinee wasn’t all that crowded by a longshot.
Grade: B
0 Comments