IR Film Review: NO HARD FEELINGS [Sony]
The aspect of a raunchy comedy is many times doing extreme elements just for the sake of slapstick comedy. But in a new age of cancel culture, it can be hard to push the boundaries unless you have an infinitely likable star that can balance both sides of the equation. Jennifer Lawrence has this in spades but a life pivot more than likely allowed her to make different selections, work with her friends but also be able to select how she progresses. Margot Robbie is doing similar aspects in a way but Lawrence has the sort of everygal approach that has been part of her public person (not unlike Cameron Diaz at certain points sans the Oscar).
"No Hard Feelings" might have worked anyway but the uneveness works for the film while at sometimes it doesn't. However, like most good comedies, there is a moment where it fires on all cylinders, has the comedy but something deeper going on mixed with heart without becoming melodramatic. It happens here on what would be an actual date between the two leads. Andrew Barth Feldman (who starred in "Dear Evan Hansen" on Broadway) as Percy (the son of a couple who hires Lawrence to "date" him). Feldman uses some of his music cachet in that area (and this is the only time) in a brilliantly executed musical number using a well placed metaphor that just makes it work. It reminds me in a small way of Katherine Hepburn's brief cameo in her later years in the movie "Love Affair". Most of the rest of the sequences (including ones you have seen in the trailer like skinny dipping and picking him up in a van) work effectively but could border on creepy if not for Lawrence's game and specifically placed lines.
Written and directed by Gene Stupnitsky, who also wrote and directed Universal's "Good Boys" as well as writing "Year One" and "Bad Teacher", one can see the throughline here. This movie is definitely more mature and less cringeworthy than "Good Boys" and a throwback to older romantic comedies. It would be interesting to see a more mainstream romantic comedy now from Lawrence and Chris Pratt since the high concept "Passengers" didn't end up being the exact right rendering of what they could do. "No Hard Feelings" isn't quite perfect in its ways but it does have its moments. By keeping the budget down, and still having an A-list star in addition to shooting locally to NYC in Nassau County as Montauk (which would have made it easier for the new mom since the film shot 6 months after she gave birth and she lives in NY), this was likely a perfect progression on all sides. Stupnitsky is also the person who supposedly introduced Lawrence to her now husband. The resolve overall of the movie is a bit saccarine but that is completely fine because Lawrence has the deep acting chops. She (and Feldman in a different way) give this film something more even if it tries to operate on a slightly different wavelength. B
By Tim Wassberg
