Official Website Plot Summary: On the brink of losing her home, Maddie finds an intriguing job listing: helicopter parents looking for someone to bring their introverted 19-year-old son out of his shell before college. She has one summer to make him a man or die trying. Director: Gene Stupnitsky Writers: Gene Stupnitsky and John Phillips Runtime: 1 hour 43 mins Main Cast:

• Jennifer Lawrence as Maddie Barker
• Andrew Barth Feldman as Percy Becker
• Laura Benanti as Allison Becker
• Matthew Broderick as Laird Becker

Review by: Samuel

No Hard Feelings’ plot concerns an early thirties Uber driver (Portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence) who loses her car (and therefore her way of life) and subsequently makes a deal with a rich couple to sleep with their 19-year-old son (portrayed by Andrew Barth Feldman) before the end of summer when he goes off to college, and in exchange, she will receive a new vehicle.

So, a film with that kind of plot needs to be outrageously funny and not much else. So in the vein of Girls Trip or The Hangover. Trying to be a comedy film such as About My Father or Meet the Parents, which have deeper messages about family, would be to the film’s detriment. Unfortunately, No Hard Feelings emulates the latter rather than the former. An attractive 30-year old trying to seduce a younger man is a plot point that could provide an hour and a half of belly laughs; and to the film’s credit when it leans into that raunchy outrageousness, it is quite entertaining and even provides some laughs.

However, too often the fun is interrupted by moments that are meant to be more serious with topics with as loneliness and depression. These are topics that certainly deserve a platform, but in a movie like this – in which a fully naked adult having a fight with teenagers that’s full of groin kicks and punches- it just feels like an add-on. This movie’s plot is simple so it should remain simple. We should have gotten an hour-and-a-half tale of a seduction that ultimately results in friendship or romance with tons of laughs along the way. Instead, we get an hour and 45-minute mixed bag of laughs, some emotional tugs, and unnecessary sub-plots with characters barely on screen.

I will say the two leads are entertaining to watch. Jennifer Lawrence and Andrew Barth Feldman have sensational chemistry so the relationship between their characters feels real and earned. It’s just a shame that relationship doesn’t seem to be the focal point here and a lot of time is spent with their personal issues. Again, as valid as the issue are, they don’t fit in a movie about a woman trying to desperately bang a young man for a car.