No Hard Feelings (2023) Review

Title: No Hard Feelings
Year: 2023
Director: Gene Stupnisky

Country: US
Language: English

A good romantic comedy has two characters who are flawed, but ultimately charismatic, intelligent, dignified and down to earth. In Sleepless in Seattle Tom Hanks' flaw is his difficulty in overcoming grief. Anybody can relate &we want to see his life improve. No Hard Feelings doesn't have such characters- and the premise is hard to get behind because of how creepy it is. 

On the brink of losing her home, Maddie (Jennifer Lawrence) finds an intriguing job listing: helicopter parents looking for someone to bring their introverted 19-year-old son (Andrew Feldman) out of his shell before college.

This woman won an Oscar!? Produced by Jennifer Lawrence, No Hard Feelings is the raunchy R-Rated Romantic Comedy that would have been a success in the era of Wedding Crashers (2005) but is very out of place in 2023. The film's poster says "pretty awkward", which is how I would describe the "comedy". It's awkward and feels quite dated. It would be like making Porky's (1981) in the present. 

The film's running gag is Jennifer Lawrence acting sexy & the male protagonist being too awkward to notice. It's a gimmick that runs its course fairly quickly. The tone is all over the place. Sometimes it wants to be a foul mouthed edgelord comedy and within minutes it wants to be a sentimental drama. 

Ultimately No Hard Feelings is a decade too late to shock cinemagoers. It's crude, but we've seen this before and we have moved past it. Not a laugh to be had,