Jennifer Lawrence’s new movie No Hard Feelings is dropping into cinemas later this week. Ahead of its release, several reviews have come out — and it’s safe to say they’ve been pretty mixed.
Also starring the likes of Matthew Broderick, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Laura Benanti, Lawrence plays the role of Maddie who’s paid by the parents of Percy (played by Andrew Barth Feldman) to date him before he goes off to college.
At the time of writing, it has a score of 57% on Rotten Tomatoes. Here are what some of the reviews are saying:
Empire
“Let loose to be her most comedic self for the first time, Jennifer Lawrence is a riot. Her confidence is palpable, and she proves herself quite the physical clown — Maddie’s exploits include struggling to roller-skate up a hill, getting accidentally punched in the throat, and wrestling with would-be thieves whilst fully naked on the beach. She really commits, and looks to be having a great time while doing so.”
Variety
“The script of No Hard Feelings creates its own safe space, designed to do little more than let Maddie and Percy form a friendship in which they Help Each Other Grow. Jokes about finger traps, the spraying of mace, and a dog that likes cocaine are all less funny than examples of the movie trying too hard. Lawrence is looser and more rambunctious than she’s been in any film since American Hustle, and Feldman never seems less than an authentic 19-year-old. This young actor has presence, and an earnestness that makes it feel like he’s beyond fakery. But that works for the movie and against it.”
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The News Herald
“Jennifer Lawrence, the Hunger Games alum giving her all to squeeze the most juice out of this rare (only?) straight comedy for her. As you know from her myriad late-night talk show appearances, she can be quite funny, and No Hard Feelings has its share of laughs.
“Unfortunately, though, instead of leaning into the raunchy sex-comedy vibes the trailers for the movie so proudly tout, director and co-writer Gene Stupnitsky works overtime to establish an emotional, heartfelt centre to the affair that it never really earns.”
Entertainment.ie
“On paper, No Hard Feelings should work easily and have a kind of Superbad late-night comedy feel to it. Instead, the screenplay and the direction seem to find themselves caught between making bland sex jokes and then trying to be a kind of Harold and Maude for Gen Z’ers. The result is something that ends up neither being all that funny nor all that resonant.”
Sydney Morning Herald
“It’s richer material than anything in the last season’s worth of superhero blockbusters, and with big-screen Hollywood comedy at a low ebb, perhaps we should be thankful that No Hard Feelings exists at all. Not too thankful, however. Despite a handful of envelope-pushing gags, this is raunchiness at its most sanitised, as if Stupnitsky had received an endless stream of notes from a studio having second thoughts.”
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Collider
“The marketing for No Hard Feelings promises a no holds barred R-rated comedy full of in-your-face humor, constant innuendos, and f-bombs galore. While there is still plenty of that here, what sets this film apart from something like Bad Teacher is just how big of a heart it has.
“Yes, this is a film where a fully naked Jennifer Lawrence comically beats up a bunch of ne’er-do-well teenagers, but it also takes its time to make the audience become attached to the characters, relate to them, and actively root for them. It feels like something that would’ve played on the big screen ten years ago and that’s not a bad thing whatsoever.”
