A realistic feel-good movie that will have you laughing out loud
If you are a fan of The Office then you are sure to enjoy the humour in Gene Stupnitsky’s latest film, No Hard Feelings. As co-writer and director of both productions, the plot is based on the everyday.
This time, it is the story of when financially troubled Maddie Barker (Hunger Games’s Jennifer Lawrence) is hired to ‘date’ Percy (Andrew Feldman), a socially isolated nineteen-year-old due to go to college the following year. She is hired by Percy’s helicopter parents who are anxious about his ability to settle into college and concerned that he has no friends beyond the virtual world in which he exists.
With humour drawn from the main characters displaying a mix of inappropriate behaviours and a sense of realism, the plot is fairly simple. Maddie needs to pay taxes on her late mum’s home which she has inherited and her second job as an Uber driver is threatened when her car is impounded by her ex-boyfriend Gary (The Punisher’s Ebon Moss-Bachrach).
After a suggestion and shove by friends she meets Percy’s parents (Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti) who are part of the wealthy elite in her childhood hometown Montauk. They offer her a car in exchange for her ‘services’ to Percy. However, Maddie soon discovers that unlike herself, Percy refuses to be intimate without first having an emotional connection. Their differing perspectives lead to the hilarity within the film as well as the personal growth of both characters by the film’s end.
It is truly the cast that give the film its shine through the delivery of the dialogue. The facials of Broderick and Benanti as they interview Maddie, the downtrodden look of Moss-Bachrarch as Maddie’s broken-hearted Gary, and the scenes of quick repartee between Maddie’s friends Sarah and partner (Natalie Morales and Scott MacArthur) when talking to Maddie.
No Hard Feelings touches lightly upon the deeper emotions of love and the need for connection in an era of ghosting. The generational divide on love, parties, parenting, and bullying are humorously portrayed. For example, the need for love and connection before intimacy compared to intimacy without feeling. Or helicopter parents that host parties with closed door rooms in which people are looking on their phones rather than exploring each other. Lastly, the lack of privacy with people constantly wanting to film rather than be involved in conflict.
Set in Montauk scenes are in pubs, the beach, or in homes, and the story integrates ideas on parental love, the becoming of an adult, grief, and friendship. It also gives examples of how people end up in situations with its honest talk through humour. Suitable for mature audiences, No Hard Feelings is sure to warm your heart on these cold wintry nights.
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