NO HARD FEELINGS (2023)

NO HARD FEELINGS (2023)

Tagline: Pretty. Awkward.

(Comedy, Drama, Hanging On To The Hoods Of Cars For Dear Life) [R]

You're nineteen, grow up!

In this one Maddie, an Uber driver is about to lose a house that was left to her due to high property taxes and not being able to pay them because she has just had her car repossessed. Desperate she decides to take on the job of dating a 19-Year-Old awkward man named Percy who is getting ready to head to college but has no life in the physical world. Basically, his entire life is working at an animal adoption place and then staying at home in his spare time. If Maddie can get Percy out of his shell before he goes to college, they will give her a car. The result of this encounter is wildly unexpected. 

So back in my freshman year of high school, I started to “like” one of my friend’s sisters who was 18 at the time. I distinctly remember her saying that I should hit her up when I was 18. I didn’t because that was a few girlfriends later and I was already with someone. However, looking back, this girl was clearly wiser than I was. I was jail bait. In spite of the complaints that Maddie is either 32 or 34 in this and trying to “date” a 19-year-old, let's be real, he is not jail bait. I moved out of my house at 18. This dude is 19 and by most standards legally he’s a man. There have been films in the past that have pushed the age barrier thing but clearly, in this film, in spite of the age difference, we do have 2 adults here. 

Enough on all of that. I have never seen the AMERICAN PIE films and don’t plan to, but from what I gather, this movie falls in the humor area of those films. It’s definitely sex-charged, but like its tagline, there is something pretty awkward about it all. Because of that, hardly anything feels “sexy” about this movie unless you are just really into Jennifer Lawrence who plays “Maddie” and I am not. 

Acting wise we get a dose of Natalie Morales as Sara one of Maddie’s friends. I am pretty familiar with Natalie’s work having followed her career since the “White Collar” TV show. Anyway, she is a nice addition here, as is her husband Jim played by Scott MacArthur (HALLOWEEN KILLS). We also get Matthew Broderick as Percy’s father Laird. To be honest, maybe it’s been a long time since I have seen Broderick in a movie, but I didn’t recognize him at all. I also didn’t like his character in this. Laura Benanti (TICK, TICK…BOOM!) is fine as Percy’s mom, but she was pretty cringe as well. Jennifer Lawrence as Maddie is pretty solid, definitely awkward and I know that was what they were going for. I don’t know if I have seen Jennifer Lawrence in any comedies, but she definitely pulls it off. Then finally rounding out the top cast we have Andrew Barth Feldman who plays Percy. I thought the fact that he was essentially able to play two completely different types of characters in the same movie as the same person is pretty commendable. Feldman has only been acting for 3 years, but his resume is already larger than some people’s entire careers with 13 projects under his belt. I thought he was a great cast for this. 

For the good points, this film does a decent job of injecting a lot of humor into a pretty weird situation. There are actually a bunch of funny lines outside of what we got in the previews. Sometimes when you go and watch a movie, all of the funny parts are in the previews. That doesn’t happen with this flick. I also loved that over the course of this film, we learn enough to care about these characters and want them to overcome their obstacles. I do think that they both went a little psycho in a few scenes, but it’s used as a comedic vehicle that seems almost off-limits these days. The humor and antics scream 80s and early 90s edge and it comes together a lot better than I expected.

If I had a criticism, I don’t think we really needed the nudity, but that is also what reminded me of the 80s. Things were a bit rawer back then and this is a rated [R] movie, so you kind of have at least the idea that there could be some shenanigans when you go into it.

I need to stress that this won’t be for everyone. It’s definitely a hard [R] comedy, so just be pre-warned about all that. For the bit of heart we get, and some really funny humor, I have to give this thing a 4 out of 7. You can tell the cast was having a lot of fun. 
 

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