Directing: B+
Acting: A-
Writing: B
Cinematography: B
Editing: B+

I’m a little mystified by the decidedly mixed reviews for No Hard Feelings, a modern take on the sex comedy that, I felt. did a solid job on updating the genre. Granted, the premise is both utterly ridiculous and a little cringey: a 32-year-old woman (Jennifer Lawrence) is hired by the parents of a 19-year-old young man (Andrew Barth Feldman) to date him and bring him out of his shell as preparation for college. I wouldn’t necessarily begrudge anyone unable to get past that as a setup. Pun intended.

The thing is, No Hard Feelings actually manages to transcend any potential cringe factors, and winds up being surprisingly sweet—in addition to being consistently funny. Now, it’s not hilarious, and I can’t say it has the rewatchable factor of, say, the 2019 comedy Booksmart, which I think may be the funniest movie of the past five years. I hesitate to call it “lacking” in humor, though, especially given its high-caliber performances that rival any drama.

I also feel compelled to stress that No Hard Feelings is definitively better than its trailer might have suggested. When I first saw the trailer, I was cautiously optimistic at best, but fully ready to be disappointed by this movie. I wasn’t at all.

It’s really rare that a comedy manages to showcase a performer’s broad range of talents. Jennifer Lawrence is as good here as she’s been in anything, and Andrew Barth Feldman is a delightful discovery. Both of them have competent control of nuances you would never expect to find in a movie like this.

The history of film is also rife with examples of actors playing far younger than they actually are—Jennifer Lawrence herself was catapulted to superstardom in the 2012 adaptation of The Hunger Games, playing a sixteen-year-old at the age of 22. Lawrence is now 32 years old, and that is also the age of her character, Maddie. Andrew Barth Feldman is all of 21 years old, 20 when the movie was filmed, and he plays 19-year-old Percy. There’s something refreshing about that, in addition to the flipping of the historic script, with onscreen couples featuring a man far older than the woman.

Somehwat miraculously, No Hard Feelings never gets creepy, or even particularly weird. I told someone before going to see this movie that I was seeing a “raunchy comedy,” and it really isn’t even that. It’s barely even a sex comedy. It’s really about two very different people, at very different points in their lives, finding surprisingly genuine moments of connection.

Of course, “creepy” is not the same as awkward—and this movie has awkwardness to spare. But, it is never once disingenuous, and it is always fun and entertaining. Although I do have to say: there’s a bit of a running joke about Maddie’s friends, who are expecting a baby, not really liking the homemade baby crib mobile Maddie crafts for them, out of an umbrella and dangling surf boards. I thought it was a really sweet gesture that they should have genuinely appreciated—especially as these friends are surfers—but, whatever!

No Hard Feelings is about people making misguided decisions. I suppose the very premise of this movie could be regarded as one, except that the characters in the movie actually develop in satisfying ways. I suppose Percy being this intense recluse who then quite easily starts talking to peers kind of out of nowhere is a possible target for nitpicking. I didn’t care so much, because wherever the material falters—and it only ever does to minor degrees—the acting and the chemistry onscreen elevates it. I had just as much fun as I wanted at this movie and I think others will too.

*Jennifer Lawrence and Andrew Barth Feldman are awkward in all the right ways.*

Overall: B+