Jennifer Lawrence returns in No Hard Feelings to be absolutely hilarious

The best funny stories are usually the most improbable. No Harsh Feelings At first, it seems like an awful idea. It’s a movie in which Jennifer Lawrence, in her first lead role in a full-on comedy, spends approximately 103 minutes trying to seduce a socially awkward 19-year-old for financial gain. It’s also wildly funny, and a great reminder of how good J-Law is at lighting up a screen.

Lawrence portrays Maddie Barker a woman from Montauk who has lived there her entire life. She is now trying to settle down in the area. Struggling to pay property taxes on the home she inherited from her late mother, Maddie gets by on odd jobs — and then loses her car for not making payments on that either. If you don’t have a vehicle, there is no Uber and no money from tourists to pay your bills. Maddie found a way to get new wheels that is incredibly unusual: A couple of wealthy parents are willing to provide a vehicle to a girl who sleeps with their 19-year old son, before he leaves for college.

No Harsh FeelingsThe premise is on paper a bit raunchy, but the reality of it in real life would be too sweet for anyone to find it risqué or transgressive. Maddie is a hot mess who happily burns bridges and doesn’t care much for social niceties; hooking up with a 19-year-old is no big deal to her. Unfortunately, Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman), said teenager, is too nervous and sweet to accept any of Maddie’s advances, and she has to win him over — because Percy cannot know that his parents arranged the whole thing.

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Sex farce gives way to a story of unlikely friendship as Maddie tries to seduce a boy too scared of everything to even register he’s being hit on, and Maddie has to compete in a decathlon of humiliation — getting maced, beating the crap out of some thieves while nude, and getting her ass lit on fire while she clings to the hood of a car, among other things — to convince Percy to open up sexually. But No Harsh FeelingsIt is a tale about Percy, and Maddie both needing to be open emotionally to get out of their ruts.

Mostly, No Harsh Feelings is a reminder that Lawrence — an actor who exploded in popularity thanks to the strength of unforgettable dramatic roles in films like Winter’s Bone, Silver Linings Playbook, and the Hunger Games series — is extremely funny. Whether it’s the physical comedy of Maddie’s over-the-top come-ons, her quippy and sweary putdowns directed towards ex-boyfriends and other teenagers, or her barely simmering rage at the rich vacationers that flood her hometown every year, Lawrence is funny in several registers, and the entire movie is held together by her sheer charisma.

That’s not to say that the rest of the film is dull. Feldman holds his own in the straight man role, an excellent foil to Lawrence’s antics and the doe-eyed center for the rest of the cast to orbit around, from his overbearing parents (Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti) to his still-present nanny (Kyle Mooney), all fussing over a young man who doesn’t want to be fussed over, but can’t figure out how to face the world on his own.

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Lawrence, however, is the strongest argument. No Harsh Feelings. While the film favors sweetness over raunch in a way that makes for a messy third act, Lawrence’s performance holds it all together with real heart. As Maddie, she isn’t interested in sanding off a difficult character’s rough edges, but instead shows how that character comes to understand why they are difficult, and maybe even accepts it.

Jennifer Lawrence has had a quieter time in the early 2020s compared with her past output. No Harsh FeelingsHer third film within the past four years. It’s also been a light time for big, R-rated studio comedies, a genre that has struggled to find the kind of success horror movies have had in standing out amidst the endless wave of franchise cinema. It doesn’t have to be, though. You don’t always need a bad story or a fantastic actor to have a good laugh.