Teenage romance, young love, and that puberty-induced quest to lose your virginity: The perennial themes and punchlines that suffuse raunchy comedies from the 90s and 2000s. A genre that largely disappeared over the past decade as the big-budget superhero fad left little room for adolescent rom-coms.
But Gene Stupnitsky, a co-creator of the recent hit, Jury Duty, has attempted to revive the template in the form of No Hard Feelings. The new comedy starring Jennifer Lawrence isn’t a direct pastiche of the lewd 2000s coming-of-age stories, but rather a modern adaption that swaps the stereotypical, young, and hormone-driven male lead for a 32-year-old woman with a riotous romantic life.
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Lawrence stars as Maddie Barker, a resident of Montauk beset by rising property taxes as moneyed vacationers snap up properties in her neighborhood. Struggling under the weight of her hefty tax bill, and with the state threatening to seize the house bequeathed to her by her mother, she turns to Craigslist in desperation.
Amid the car listings, Maddie comes across an ad from an affluent family, seeking the services of an escort to wrest their reclusive son, Percy Becker (Andrew Barth Feldman), from his hermetic, video game-infested shell prior to shipping the 19-year-old off to Princeton — all in exchange for a Buick.
Reflecting on her freewheeling love life, Maddie muses, "I've had one-night stands before and gotten zero Buick Regals for it. Once, I even slept with a guy just to get out of playing Settlers of Catan." Maddie has a history of flitting from suitor to suitor, rarely keeping one around longer than a weekend. Having long since separated love and affection from her ephemeral flings, she sees the proposition to date a college freshman as an opportunity for a free car.
Much of the film’s comedy is derived from the stark contrast between Maddie and Percy. Maddie, in an attempt to make a memorable first impression, storms into the animal shelter where Percy is volunteering, donned in a skin-tight dress and towering heels. When asked why she's interested in adopting a dog, she replies nonchalantly, "Because I can’t have any of my own."
After inundating Percy with flirtatious advances, she’s coaxing the reluctant teen into her van, whisking him off to her house with the hope of a quick victory. Maddie is taken aback when the naïve romantic insists, "I think we should go on a date first," reluctant to surrender his virginity at the first opportunity.
It is through her farcical escapades with the late bloomer that Maddie herself matures, learning to approach physical affection through the lens of love and commitment, rather than hedonistic hookups.
In a climactic scene, Percy, having come a long way from the antisocial recluse in the dog shelter, musters the confidence and charisma to accompany Maddie to a party hosted by his Princeton peers. When confronted with jeers from frat boys ten years her junior, the quick-witted Maddie snidely retorts, suggesting they should sleep with each other. In a broader satire of the social media-addicted and overly sensitive Gen Z, the indignant onlookers whip out their phones, accuse her of homophobia, and start recording the interaction for their TikTok audiences.
Through a blend of satire and farce, No Hard Feelings reveals the discomforts of modern dating in an age marked by digital superficiality and fleeting connections. The narrative tackles the transactional nature of relationships, embodied in Maddie's exploits, and underscores the problems that arise when intimacy is relegated to a commodity.
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The comedic balance between the outrageous and the poignant not only induces laughter but also invites introspection on our own attitudes towards love and relationships. It provides a lens through which to examine the often unspoken and uneasy aspects of contemporary dating culture. With its sharp humor and heartfelt moments, No Hard Feelings presents a compelling critique of our times.
Harry Khachatrian (@Harry1T6) is a film critic for the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog and a computer engineer in Toronto, pursuing his MBA.