Maddie (Jennifer Lawrence) has a problem: she will lose her late mother’s house if she doesn’t pay her taxes. But for that she needs money and as an Uber driver she can only earn that if she gets a new car. When she finds an ad promising her a car, when she’s dating (read: deflowered) a 19-year-old, she makes a decision. She will seduce the shy Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman) no matter what.
In cinemas since June 22, 2023, No Hard Feelings is the Oscar winner’s first full-blooded comedy. The fact that not only the general public, but also highly esteemed Moviepilot colleagues were looking forward to the film, has another reason besides Jennifer Lawrence: If you wanted to, you could return to the kind of cock from the trailers – and interpret sex comedies that had their heyday in the early 2000s.
At least until you actually see the film.
No Hard Feelings shows Jennifer Lawrence in top form, but hardly any bare facts
To get one thing straight: No Hard Feelings is funny, but almost entirely because of Jennifer Lawrence. It doesn’t matter if she kicks in doors, hangs on a hood screaming or Fully Naked Thieving Teens Spanked On The Beach: When the film forgets that it’s trying to tell you a coherent story and lets JLaw spin completely freely, No Hard Feelings is really fun. Light, flat, summery entertainment. Easy on the brain, good for the psyche.
Sony
Jennifer Lawrence is a revelation in No Hard Feelings
But one thing did surprise me: how different director Gene Stupnitsky’s film feels when you actually see it. The trailers gave me an image of a sexy comedy that’s not afraid to offend people. Who really dares again and has therefore received an R rating in the USA, so is only released from the age of 17. A film that feels exciting and raunchy and forbidden and makes you blush a little while giggling. Well I was wrong.
Yes, there are a bit of wobbling on laps and a premature ejaculation. But all horniness is purely performative. Because Maddie doesn’t really want to sleep with Percy. She’s just pretending to get a car. And Percy? He watches hardcore porn, we learn in a subordinate clause, but doesn’t seem to have any sexual needs – let alone to show the genre-typical horniness of a teenager. Nobody has sex in this film, nor does anyone masturbate. Not even bashful under the covers. (In Germany, No Hard Feelings got an age rating from the FSK from 12 and now I know why.)
In short: No Hard Feelings doesn’t bring back the cocky joke genre of Harte Jungs or American Pie – although Mädchen, Mädchen was the most uninhibited representative of this genre anyway, without a penis protagonist. No, No Hard Feelings is a relatively average buddy comedy.
The cinema comedy doesn’t want to be “dirty” at all and this is particularly evident in one scene
There are several potential reasons for this: Perhaps those responsible were too sensitive to take this absolutely encroaching relationship dynamic to the climax (haha!). The trailers were also met with controversy. Also possible: sex humor is not (anymore) attractive enough as an advertising environment and which car brands should then drive through the picture and finance the star fees?
However, after seeing the film, I have a different theory: I think No Hard Feelings wants one Commentary on the alleged lack of sex and listlessness of the younger generation be. There’s a scene where lead actress JLaw is looking for Percy at a home party, throws open several bedroom doors and finds a bunch of teenagers sitting on beds together but staring at their phones instead of going to each other’s laundry. “Doesn’t anyone fuck here any more?”, Maddie asks, exasperated. The scene made it prominently into the second film trailer.
Check out the second trailer for No Hard Feelings here:
No Hard Feelings – Red Band Trailer (German) HD
For millennial maddie, sex, no matter how haphazard and drunk, is normal. She grew up watching films that provided a questionable blueprint for such situations. Her behavior irritates the teenagers she suddenly has to deal with. Because, according to studies, Generation Z not only has less sex, but is obviously also much more concerned about gender dynamics and consensual relations. People like Percy are the future – and this future needs a different kind of sex humor.
In my opinion, No Hard Feelings isn’t an attempt to revive a “dirty” comedy genre. It’s a secret farewell to a kind of joke that just doesn’t work for the younger generation anymore. And this thought is the most worthy of discussion and the most exciting thing about the whole film.
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