Infobox
Title No Hard Feelings (2023) Director Gene Stupnitsky Cast Jennifer Lawrence, Andrew Barth Feldman, Matthew Broderick Genre romantic (sex) comedy, coming-of-age Platform Netflix Release June 23, 2023 Date watched April 2024 Rating 2 / 5
Review below has SPOILERS. You have been duly warned. Proceed at your own peril.
Intro
An utterly forgettable rom-com carried by Jennifer Lawrence. Absent Jennifer Lawrence, I’m afraid this film would already be at the bottom of the sea. A non-starter. The film is about a young woman in her early 30s with daddy issues who sleeps around and invariably ghosts her romantic partners the moment they tell her “I love you”. After an incident has her car towed, she tries to figure out how she can get her car back. She and her friends come across an ad in the local paper looking for a 20-something woman who can essentially be a for-hire girlfriend in exchange for a car. Seeing this as her chance to get a car, she applies and discovers that her job is to help the teenage son of a well-off couple “learn the ways of the world” (read: get laid). Hell bent on acquiring the car, she proceeds to seduce the young man and gets to know him better. But he’s the very antithesis of the kinds of men she’s used to getting in bed with, and well, we all know how the story goes.
The humor falls flat, the incessant focus on trying to have sex with the male character seemed strained, and the dialog felt poorly written. The story is as predictable as they come. I wondered whether Jennifer Lawrence was the right person for the role. She does have the girl boss vibes, and as her role is supposed to be this older woman who’s been around the block and knows her way with men, she’s supposed to be leading the dweeb out of his reserved nature. The highlight for me was the male lead’s piano song performance in the restaurant scene. I found it to be a fresh interpretation of the classic Hall & Oates song Maneater.
Overall, I give this film a 2 out of 5.
Rating
Entertainment
2/5. For rom-coms to be entertaining, I feel you have to really identify with the characters, the lead actors have to be super hot, and/or the dialog has to be funny and smartly-written. None of the above was true for this film. The plot for these kinds of movies are sorely predictable, and the writing here didn’t try anything risky and plays it safe. Maybe I’m older now, and just can’t relate to the types of characters in this film, but I did not find myself rooting for either of the leads, nor was I on the edge of my seat wondering where they’d end up. And perhaps - pardon me any diehard fans out there - I just didn’t find Jennifer Lawrence’s character sultry enough to imagine myself being seduced in the shoes of the male lead. I mean, Elisha Cuthbert in The Girl Next Door anyone?
Resonance
1/5. Reflecting back on this film, I really can’t remember any lines or scenes that resonated with me.
Originality
2/5. Super predictable plot. I gave it a 2 and not a 1 because a) normally in these rom-coms, it’s the guy who’s the alpha male who’s slept around with all the girls, and here Jennifer Lawrence’s character is ostensibly the promiscuous one who falls for the genuine, inexperienced partner and b) the leads don’t end up dating in the end, which is the standard ending for these rom-coms. But then again, given the way that Jennifer Lawrence’s character gets outed in the end, I don’t know how they could date. Sure, she has developed real feelings for him, but he’s going to college now. Let’s be real.
Coherence
3/5. The story, while predictable, does make sense. There weren’t any severely disjointed things that made me question their inclusion in the film. But I’m not a big fan of the ending. If I were the male lead, I don’t think I could have remained friends. Not after what happened. First of all, I was genuinely in love with this - on the surface - “for-hire” woman 10+ years my senior, who, it turns out was only spending time with me for her own ends. Now that her plans have been made known, she says she was sincere and wants to remain friends? Don’t buy it.
Recommendability
2/5. Only if you’re a big fan of Jennifer Lawrence and/or are a dweeb with fantasies of hot girl boss swooping down to have sex with you at any costs. Not the best 2 something hours spent imo. Oh and I haven’t even mentioned the nudity. Will leave it at that.