No Hard Feelings

“This kid's undateable!”

Filmology Rating: 3.17 out of 4

While I would like to claim that every generation has a raunchy sex comedy, they have seemed to fall out of style once we hit the 2010s. Yes, we were graced with films like Project X and 21 & Over, but I would argue that general audiences have no memory of those films' existence. As someone who grew up in the 2000s, films like American Pie and Road Trip were a part of my film vocabulary. Previous generations had movies like, Animal House, Porky’s, and Private School. While not all of these films are fantastic, they offer a few laughs and give a glimpse into each generation’s mindset.

After a series of mishaps, Maddie, played by Jennifer Lawrence, is in desperate need for a job. She wants to save her family home, the only home she has ever known. When Maddie finds an ad online to help “date” the son of a vacationing family for the summer, she decides to put her feminine charm to work and break the boy out of his shell.

As I mentioned before, Hollywood doesn’t make movies like this anymore, especially from the female perspective. While the film does offer some raunchy moments I would argue that the film tries to put more heart than raunch. While that might appeal to those who like the gross out nature of some comedies, I found it to be refreshing. Normally I don’t find juvenile humor to work, looking at you Flash, but when it hits in this film it works. It works because it usually has a punch of heart to it that makes it feel more realistic and relatable than just being gross out for the sake of gross out.

This is where the problem lies with No Hard Feelings, when the film goes into the third act and puts aside nearly all of the raunchy elements it becomes overly generic and rather dull. While this does feel like the Hallmark approach to movies, meaning to have the most generic, almost offensive resolutions to any conflicts, No Hard Feelings has earned the right to have a cheesy conclusion. All of these elements were set up in the beginning and while I had selfishly hoped that they would be one off lines that would be completely dropped but this film is too smart for that. ne of the best features of No Hard Feelings is that it feels authentic to the time that we are living in. It doesn’t bludgeon you with sentimental feelings that you can find on any greeting card.

A major message in the film is that it’s okay to wait to have sex. Something I feel will positively influence teenagers. Yes, every other piece of media might be trying to pressure you but tune it out. Be yourself, be genuine. Nothing is wrong with practicing safe sex but you shouldn’t be pressured into any situation that you don’t want to be in. While some of the comedy from No Hard Feelings features some gross out jokes, as it should being a sex comedy, none of them seem to ever pressure anyone into having sex. The film even goes great lengths to, incorrectly in my opinion, talk about how this latest high school generation isn’t interested in sex. I find the message of this film to have a bit more power to it than American Pie or Animal House so I would argue and hope that this film continues to speak to each new generation and attempt to tell them to not be pressured into growing up too quickly.

When Jennifer Lawrence appeared in X-Men: First Class, The Hunger Games, and Silver Linings Playbook, all within two years, it felt like Hollywood had found her new leading lady. Lawrence brought a sense of quirky charm to every role that she played that it always felt refreshing to see her on the silver screen. She then took a bit of a break in the late 2010s which made her return to the silver screen even more special. The reason that Lawrence works so great in this film is because she isn’t afraid to be a bit raunchy with her comedy, yet she has enough heart to capture your attention. She proves yet again that she is one of the best actresses of her generation since you can easily imagine this role going too far into the seductress role which would feel rather icky to watch. Lawrence seems to be self aware of the role she is playing and knows how to bring the emotional gut punch with it.

At the end of the day, No Hard Feelings doesn’t reinvent the wheel but it's not trying to. The goal of this film is to make you hang out with your friends in the air conditioning and to forget about your problems for an hour and a half. There is nothing wrong with a film that wants you to laugh and have a good time.

Rating: See It

-Jonny G