No Hard Feelings
A woman struggling for cash (Jennifer Lawrence) responds to a classified ad from a couple of parents looking for someone to date their awkward son (Andrew Barth Feldman) to get him more confident for college. The catch is, he mustn’t find out it was a set-up.
You’ve probably correctly plotted out the trajectory of this film before it even started: the awkward encounter, then they unexpectedly hit it off, then it goes too far and all blows up in everyone’s face.
As with all of these it’s about how they tell that same old story, and this one by and large does work. The writing is up to scratch and the two lead performers are really funny. I saw some recent interviews where Jennifer Lawrence seemed a bit insecure about her comedy chops in this film but those fears are unfounded, she’s very funny and also generous enough to let her partner be funny.
The formulaic structure does make it feel like it’s going through the ropes a little bit. Also, sometimes the direction or the edit seem a little off? It wasn’t dire but also on auto-pilot at times, which surprised me from the person who made the wonderful Good Boys1. All was redeemed with the great beach scene though, a masterclass in comedy shock-value and surprise.
Anyway those are nitpicks in what is a pretty funny and breezy summer comedy. Worth a watch if you’re in the mood.