Feels like a minute since we’ve had a good, old-fashioned, raunchy sex comedy on our big screens. And certainly a while since we had one starring an Oscar winner. But now here comes Jennifer Lawrence letting it all hang out in No Hard Feelings, which is now playing in New Zealand cinemas.
JLaw is front and centre as the snarkeriffic Mandy, whose attitude has seen her cycle through a number of menial jobs. Her Uber gig in jeopardy after her old beater is repossessed, Mandy answers an unusual Craigslist ad, worried that their her at-home son Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman) is failing to launch. Wealthy couple Laird (Matthew Broderick) and Allison (Laura Benanti) want a woman to, ah, date him: “date his brains out” to be precise.
Mandy takes to the gig with all the gusto she can muster, but Percy is a serious arrested development case. Still, he’s got a sweet disposition and a good heart. Could sparks fly between the two? Cue comical, sexy mishaps until the credits roll.
We used to get this kind of provocative Friday night date fare on the reg, but the teen sex comedy genre has dwindled of late. We might bet the occasional gem like Blockers, but it’s really shows like Sex Education keeping the flame alive on streaming. Top marks, then, to Jennifer Lawrence, who is so committed to the bit that she’s producing No Hard Feelings under her Excellent Cadaver production shingle, while Gene Stupnitsky, who directed the uproariously funny Good Boys, is calling the shots.
If you’re old as hell, you might be reminded of 1987’s Can’t Buy Me Love, which saw Patrick Dempsey and Amanda Peterson in a similar scenario (funnily enough, it was remade already as 2003’s Love Don’t Cost a Thing). But for those of you whose backs don’t hurt, go and see No Hard Feelings.
