No Hard Feelings Movie Review

As of late, it feels like we have been seeing far fewer mainstream comedies on the big screen. Over the past few years we have had very few films to select from in the comedy genre. COVID-19 pandemic aside, it has been a trend that has been felt since 2019. As audiences we have become hungry, looking for some laughs and thankfully, they were delivered, by an unlikely hero in Jennifer Lawrence, with her latest raunchy outing, ‘No Hard Feelings’.

‘No Hard Feelings’ follows Maddie Barker (played by Lawrence), who is financially struggling and on the brink of losing her home. She comes across an intriguing job notice, when two helicopter parents (played by Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti) seek a girlfriend for their 19-year-old son Percy (played by Andrew Barth Feldman), trying to encourage him to come out of his shell before he goes off to college. Zaniness ensues and we have our comedy film. I am a sucker for these types of films and as mentioned, we just haven’t been getting as many of late, so of course I was going to check out ‘No Hard Feelings’ and it didn’t disappoint.

'No Hard Feelings' doesn’t reinvent the comedy wheel, borrowing from films such as ‘Failure to Launch’ with Sarah Jessica Parker and everybody’s favourite Texan Matthew McConaughey, but it never tries too hard, making the audience realise how much we need a good laugh. The real strengths of this film lie with its two leads. Jennifer Lawrence is having an absolute ball as Maddie. She is fantastic here, clearly having fun and not letting her Oscar fame stop her from giving a dedicated performance in a raunchy comedy. She really goes for it here and I think she does a great job.  Her co-star, young Andrew Barth Feldman also does a wonderful job, selling his awkwardness and clearly having a blast on set alongside Lawrence. The two-share great chemistry with one another and it was a lot of fun seeing the two likeable stars on screen with each other.

The film also boasts an impressive supporting cast as well, with the likes of Matthew Broderick, Laura Benanti, Natalie Morales, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Kylie Mooney among others. These supporting players are all given their moments to shine, with writer/director Gene Stupnitsky (Good Boys, The Office) using his abilities as a comedy director to really get the best out of this ensemble. He has shown his ability in the past to work with younger casts, Good Boys being a great example of this, but he really takes it a step further, working with a wide array of comedic talent here.

The film never takes itself too seriously either, as mentioned, it doesn’t reinvent the wheel here, but it really doesn’t need to. ‘No Hard Feelings’ is completely fine being exactly what it is, a silly, fun, raunchy, comedy film and with the lack of options out there, I and many other audience members out there, were all for that approach to this film. Given its box office success and critical acclaim, I really hope we get to see more comedy films come out like this.

‘No hard Feelings’ is wacky and silly but is really held together by its two leads. Jennifer Lawrence and co-star Andrew Barth Feldman are really the selling point here. I had an absolute blast checking this one out and I applaud you all to do the same.

Pick up your copy of ‘No Hard Feelings’ on DVD or Blu-Ray today, you won’t want to miss it and for all things comedy, Sanity is your one stop shop, so check out their wide array of comedy films and series below.

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Buy No Hard Feelings on DVD or Blu-ray here

Christopher Pattison wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Chris here