Jennifer Lawrence is an actress that came onto the Hollywood scene rather quickly. He got a lot of acclaim for her role in Winter’s Bone and was off and running after that. Roles in big studio franchises followed like Mystique in the X-Men franchise and Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games Franchise launched her into superstardom. She worked with some good directors and even won an Academy Award for her role in The Silver Linings Playbook. She took some time off but she’s back with another self-referential comedy No Hard Feelings. 

Lawrence plays Maddie, a down-on-her-luck Uber driver/bartender at a local seafood restaurant in Montauk, New York. A vacation destination for thousands of people during the summer. She’s a local though as she likes to say. After her car gets repossessed because of her not paying her property taxes she takes a deal from a local couple. If she dates their nineteen-year-old son she can have their used Buick. The hard part is getting this introverted and awkward young man, Percy (Andrew Barth Felman) to come out of his shell.

Gene Stupnitsky the writer/director is no stranger to raunchy comedies. He directed Good Boys and Bad Teacher. No Hard Feelings has a bit of a heart to it though. Both main characters have various reasons for being in this relationship which is fake. The writing shows that being themselves isn’t easy. They both have issues. Lawrence’s character has financial wows and personal reasons for doing this even though she knows it’s wrong and Percy knows she’s out of his league and he should be hanging out with people his age before going off to college. They just truly like each other even though they are very different people and are vastly different in age.

Stupnitsky uses a popular trope seen in a lot of films like this. He puts his characters in an awkward situation or compromising scenario and sees how they react. The comedy that ensues is gold. One scene in particular where the two leads are on a beach and they go swimming in the ocean leads to a crazy result. Lawrence in particular goes to places I didn’t expect her to go in this film but I should have with Stupnitsly’s track record. He doesn’t shy away from doing the unexpected during his movies. The comedy sets up the drama very nicely. And they balance each other out quite perfectly.

This film has two main stars but it also has a nice supporting cast as well. Matthew Broderick as Laird and Lauren Benanti as Allison, the bots parents are funny in an uppity snobbish way. They do everything for their son and they wonder why he is the way he is. Lawrence’s character has a couple of friends, one who is pregnant, Sara (Natalie Morales), and Jim (Scott MacArthur) who like a conscience in a way for her. She tells them all her problems and they in turn give her funny answers which lead to interesting results. There is also a tow truck driver, Gary (Ebon-Moss Bachrach), who has an interesting history with the Lawrence character. The supporting cast does just that they support the leads very nicely.

What I mostly liked about this movie was it was self-referential. It gave Lawrence room to use her character as an embarrassment and showed the viewers how not to do things from a certain point of view. The film also showed how hard it is for a young man in today’s society. Trying to grow into manhood. Life isn’t easy no matter what side of the line you’re on. In a way, it would seem Lawrence’s character could have a good life. She’s pretty and men want to be with her and take care of her but she is held back by her past and self-worth issues and the same thing in an opposite way for the young man. He has his whole life ahead of his with Prenceston in his sights but he’s held back by his insecurities. It’s a typical comedy fair but it works in this film. And I loved it.

No Hard Feelings puts the audience watching in the shoes of the main characters. It asks us how we would handle these situations and the results are often funny. Lawrence is as self-referential as I’ve ever seen her in any movie to date. She goes places I have never seen her go in her career. And I loved every minute of it. The rest of the movie was very good as well the young actor who plays Percy was very good and the supporting cast complimented the main actors very nicely. This is just what the doctor ordered though regarding what theaters goers needed. It’s a different kind of film from all the comic book testosterone that’s in cinemas right now. This is a must-see for anybody looking for something different this summer.

4 ½ stars

Dan Skip Allen