The Best Part of No Hard Feelings Is Actually This Scene
The Big Picture
- No Hard Feelings is a raunchy comedy reminiscent of early 2000s films, with Jennifer Lawrence showing her funny and filthy side.
- The film features great comic timing between Lawrence and co-star Andrew Barth Feldman, with hilarious clashes between their characters.
- The movie goes beyond raunchy humor, exploring sweet and unexpected moments that reveal growth and change in the characters.
The Jennifer Lawrence-led comedy No Hard Feelings is a fun (and surprisingly heartfelt) return to those early 2000s raunchy comedies like American Pie and Superbad that we just don't get in theaters anymore. Better yet, for once, a woman gets to show that she can be just as filthy and funny as men. In No Hard Feelings, we finally get to see the side of The Hunger Games star that we know and love from her delightfully-unfiltered talk show appearances, but had yet to see in a movie.
Jennifer Lawrence and her co-star Andrew Barth Feldman, who's likely best known for stepping in for Ben Platt in the titular role of the Broadway sensation Dear Evan Hansen, have great comic timing and play off of each other masterfully, with Lawrence going heavy into debauchery and Feldman finding laughs in just how oblivious his character is. While those opposites make for some hilarious clashes, the best part of No Hard Feelings isn't raunchy or silly at all. It's sweet, tender, and a bit unexpected, showing us that there's a lot more going on here than just jokes.
No Hard Feelings
RComedy
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.
'No Hard Feelings' Features an Unfiltered and Desperate Jennifer Lawrence
The premise of No Hard Feelings promises audiences a sex comedy that's going to earn laughs through the awkwardness of its characters. Maddie Barker is 32 and has lived in Montauk, New York her entire life. Tourists come and go, but she stays, working as an Uber driver for the rich who come to her coastal town in the summer, which in itself serves as a comment on class. When she loses her car, she loses her job, but then she sees a strange Craiglist ad. The ad was made by the parents of an awkward teenage son who are looking for a woman to date him and bring him out of his shell before he goes off to college. In return, this woman will get a Buick Regal. Fair and square?
Maddie is desperate, so she meets with the parents, played by Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti. They tell her how closed off their son Percy (Feldman) is. They think if she dates him ("Date him hard" the dad says) that he'll be ready to be out on his own. The only catch is that Percy can't know about this setup. Maddie has to act like she's really attracted to Percy. This creates some hilarious moments of forced flirtation involving Maddie in a tight dress trying to woo Percy at the animal rescue where he volunteers. Things get so out of hand that he maces her because he's scared that he's being kidnapped. This is proof that we need more likable female dirtbags like Jennifer Lawrence in No Hard Feelings. Meanwhile, poor Percy is just completely clueless about the opposite sex.
She manages to convince Percy that she really likes him, and they set up a date at a local bar, where Percy shows up in a shirt and tie...and shorts. While sitting at the table, "Maneater" by Hall & Oates begins to play. Percy tells Maddie that this song scared him as a kid with those lyrics like "She'll only come out at night." He thinks the song is about a literal monster, so Maddie has to clue him in about its true meaning. With this, she realizes that Percy is more sheltered and innocent than she thought.
'No Hard Feelings' Will Also Melt Your Heart
CloseBit by bit, Maddie gets Percy to open up as she continues to get down and dirty, as evidenced in No Hard Feelings' trailer. She even convinces him to go skinny-dipping with her. She keeps trying to get him in bed so that she can score that sweet Buick Regal, but no luck. Percy is a gentleman. He needs to get to know Maddie first. They eventually begin to open up to each other, both revealing that they never went to prom. Maddie gets personal and tells Percy that she never went to prom because, on the day of the dance, the letter she sent to the father she never knew came back unopened. Percy was made fun of in school, so he never went either. They decide to have their own prom, rent a limo, and go to a nice restaurant. It's here that everything begins to change.
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At the restaurant is a nice piano where a man plays music in the background. Percy has revealed to Maddie that he plays the piano. When the employee gets up from the piano and walks away, Maddie tells Percy to play something for her. Hell no, that's the last thing he wants to do! She tells Andrew she'll make a scene if he doesn't, so Percy obliges. Though he's scared, he also seems a bit excited. Being with Maddie made him more confident. It's all working, just like his parents wanted.
We wait for something embarrassing to happen to Percy at the piano, but this is not that moment. It's at this moment that No Hard Feelings goes for all the feelings. Percy begins to slowly play "Maneater" and then sings along with it, slowing it down to the point that it feels like a love song. The scared boy is gone. He's just living, and the whole restaurant watches in awe, with Maddie being the most moved. Her jaw drops and she watches Percy almost in a trance, not taking her eyes away from him. Is Maddie falling for Percy? When Percy comes back to the table, Maddie expresses her shock. "That was unbelievable. How did you know that song?" Percy says, "We talked about 'Maneater' so I went home and learned it."
'No Hard Feelings' "Maneater" Piano Scene Has a Deeper Meaning
The look on Maddie's face at this says it all. For the entirety of the film up to this point, we know her to be someone who sleeps with men and leaves them, unwilling to get close to anyone, unwilling to really love anyone. Percy actually remembered something they had talked about, and then wanted to learn about it. Not because he had any interest in trying to use it to impress her or to have sex with her, but simply because he was interested in her as a person. For a little while after, we wonder if No Hard Feelings is also a romantic comedy. Are Maddie and Percy going to end up together? The big age difference (though we've seen far worse) still doesn't feel right. But when Maddie tracks down Percy to a party a girl invited him to, is she doing it because she wants that Buick Regal, or is it because she's jealous and feels something for this kid she's trying to trick?
Of course, as it must, things go all wrong. Percy finds out about Maddie's deal with his parents and kicks her out of his life. They fight, with a hurt Percy even belittling Maddie for never leaving home because of a dad who isn't coming back. Their relationship is repaired at the end, not with a kiss, not with them having sex, but with a genuine apology from Maddie. Percy has grown. He's ready to go off to college now. But perhaps more importantly, Maddie has grown, too. For many reasons, No Hard Feelings is one of Jennifer Lawrence's best performances.
She put up her house for sale, a home that was given to her by her mother before she died. She's been unable to let go of it, but now she can. Maddie's going to move to California and start a new life, but before she does, she offers Percy a ride to college. They aren't going to be a couple, but that's a happy ending. They weren't meant to love each other in that way. They were meant to change each other. And it all started with an impromptu song, where a boy coming out of his shell caused a woman to let her guard down and live. That's so much better than a Buick Regal.
No Hard Feelings is available to watch on Netflix in the U.S.
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