No Hard Feelings (15)

Luckless Uber driver Maddie Barker is distraught after her car is towed away as part of a court order for assets seizure. Faced with the possibility of losing her mother's house, she answers an advert from a married couple, who are offering a Buick Regal car to anyone willing to "date" their introverted 19-year-old son Percy before he attends Princeton. Maddie promises to bring Percy out of his shell.

LondonNet Film Review

No Hard Feelings (15) Film Review from LondonNet

Films are prone to infection at every stage of production: chronic logic failure, foot-in-mouth disease, hyperactive editing fever, sequelitis, special effects bloating, swollen soundtrack, tone deafness… the list goes on. Gene Stupnitsky’s potty-mouthed romp succumbs to overactive trailer syndrome: an increasingly common condition, particularly affecting comedies and action-packed blockbusters, which compels filmmakers to give away their killer one-liners and most jaw-dropping stunts in promotional material and hold almost nothing back as a surprise for paying audiences. No Hard Feelings has already shared its best set-ups and punchlines except for an all-guns-blazing sequence of full-frontal nudity that is a testament to Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence’s unerring commitment to her role as a cash-strapped 30-something, who promises to take a teenager’s virginity to ease her financial woes…

Co-written by Stupnitsky and John Phillips, this surprisingly sweet throwback to raunchy 1980s comedies like Weird Science and Risky Business is inspired by a real-life advert on Craigslist posted by a mother, who was looking for someone to date her son before he flew the nest and attended college. Lawrence and co-star Andrew Barth Feldman catalyse endearing on-screen chemistry as directionless souls across the age divide, who sow the seeds of a touching friendship in the most unusual circumstances. For all the titillation and sexually suggestive set-pieces including an amusingly awkward lap dance, No Hard Feelings is a big softie at heart.

Luckless Uber driver Maddie Barker (Lawrence) watches helplessly as old flame Gary (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) carries out a court order and tows away her car for failure to pay taxes on her late mother’s house. Priced out of the Long Island property market by obnoxious, wealthy outsiders, Maddie answers an advert posted by married couple Laird (Matthew Broderick) and Allison Becker (Laura Benanti). They are offering a Buick Regal to anyone willing to “date” their introverted 19-year-old son Percy (Barth Feldman) before he attends Princeton.

The shy teenager doesn’t appear to have any friends, he spends hours staring at his phone, only leaves his bedroom to volunteer at the local Rescue Friends animal shelter and lacks confidence to talk to girls. Maddie promises to bring Percy out of his shell but she is disarmed by his hopelessly romantic heart. “I’m not going to have sex with somebody I don’t know,” he quietly explains to Maddie, who knows that getting the boy into bed is the quickest route to a new car and earning the money she needs to save her home.

No Hard Feelings poses as a filthy-minded comedy but ultimately delivers something sweeter and more sincere, buoyed by the rapport between the lead actors. Supporting characters are undernourished but pacing is brisk and the script retains sympathy for Maddie, even when Long Island neighbours dismiss her as predatory, emotionally cold and manipulative.

– Kim Hu