Jennifer Lawrence stole my heart the moment she entered the screen as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games. With the prequel now out (The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes), my love for Lawerence was fueled by fresh flames, so when I saw the title No Hard Feelings and Lawerence on the cover, I knew the film would be amazing.
No Hard Feelings follows Lawrence as Maddie, a local in Montauk, Long Island, New York, as she struggles financially and emotionally. Maddie gets her car, which she uses for Uber, taken away and needs to find a new one since a large part of her income comes from being an Uber driver. While she is looking for a new car, Maddie comes across two overprotective and worried parents, Laird (Matthew Broderick) and Allison (Laura Benanti). The two had decided to give away a car to any girl willing to date their 19-year-old son, Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman). Maddie, desperate for a car, agrees to date their son, but it takes her on an adventure she was not expecting.
The concept for this movie was very original and the wacky tone of the film foreshadowed this perfectly. The plot kept me interested throughout the movie; I never once touched my phone or hit pause on the remote. The humorous tone of the movie also added to my enjoyment. I was cry-laughing every other scene.
The acting was also stellar. Lawrence is an icon, and I will never have anything bad to say about her, so I was not surprised when she nailed the role of Maddie. She was perfectly desperate, and though she made bad choice after bad choice, I didn’t get annoyed as I typically do when characters don’t listen to the advice that I am yelling at the TV screen.
Percy was also perfectly awkward but endearing. Looking at the cover of the movie, it is clear Percy is not your typical love interest, and I would never feel the need to date him, but he shines as a person. All of the characters feel so real, even though the plot does not, and it makes the movie all the more entertaining.
Another aspect of this movie that I loved is how it didn’t fit in the box of a normal rom-com while still having a few aspects of the romance genre. The trope of fake dating and then actually falling in love is a little overdone, but No Hard Feelings brought a new life to it. I also love how even the semi-emotional scenes had humor in them and how this movie did not try to fit into multiple genres. It stayed true to the comedy movie with romance as the way to get their humor across. I hate when movies try to be everything at once, but this movie knew it was wacky and stayed silly to the very end.
When I am in need of a laugh, I will most definitely turn this movie on once again. It will only be a bonus to see my queen, Jennifer Lawrence.
