No Hard Feelings is a 2023 American sex comedy film starring Jennifer Lawrence as a woman who is hired by a wealthy couple to romance their romantically and sexually inexperienced son, played by Andrew Barth Feldman. The film is directed by Gene Stupnitsky from a screenplay he co-wrote with John Phillips. Along with Lawrence—who was one of the film's producers—and Feldman, the film stars Laura Benanti, Natalie Morales, and Matthew Broderick.
32-year-old Maddie Barker is an Uber driver and bartender in Montauk, New York. As she owes property taxes on a home she inherited from her mother, her car is repossessed and she faces bankruptcy. Desperate to keep the home, she accepts an unusual Craigslist posting. Wealthy couple Alison and Laird Becker ask her to "date" their 19-year-old son Percy in exchange for a Buick Regal. Since Percy is shy and has had no experiences with girls, drinking, parties, or sex, his parents hope to boost his confidence before he attends Princeton University.
Maddie attempts to seduce Percy at the animal shelter where he volunteers. However, after she offers him a ride home, he thinks that she is attempting to kidnap him and pepper sprays her. Despite this, they agree to go on a date the following day. Maddie and Percy meet at a bar the next night and then go skinny dipping at the beach. While they are in the water, a group of drunken teenagers steal their clothes. Maddie fights them in the nude, frightening Percy, who refuses to have sex with her. When she tries to leave without him, he jumps on her car, naked, and they outrun the police. She and Percy attempt to have sex, but he develops a rash from his anxiety, so Maddie nurses him.
Maddie and Percy continue to date, sharing more about themselves and forming a friendship. Both reveal that they never went to prom, so they imitate a prom night, going to a fancy dinner where Percy plays the piano. Percy meets a school acquaintance, Natalie, who invites him to a party in the restaurant. After he and Maddie disagree about their long-term plans, he goes to the party while Maddie searches for him. She finds him with Natalie in bed, though nothing happened between them, after he took an ibuprofen with alcohol. After leaving the party Percy confesses his love for Maddie.
The next day, Percy tells his parents he wants to stay in Montauk with Maddie instead of going to Princeton. In a panic, his father offers her the car if she convinces him to go to Princeton. Percy inadvertently hears Maddie's deal with his parents. He invites Maddie to dinner with his parents, implying that he knows about their deal. While Maddie and his parents ask each other if he was told about the deal, Percy crashes the Buick into a tree, heavily damaging it. When he returns, Percy tries to have sex with Maddie. After prematurely ejaculating during foreplay, a betrayed Percy ends their relationship.
Maddie takes the damaged car and becomes determined to pay off her debts. After working for the rest of the summer, she saves enough money to save her home and fix her car. Maddie's close friends, Jim and Sara, tell her they are moving out of Montauk to Florida due to housing costs. Sara asks Maddie if she really wants to stay in Montauk or if she is just doing it for her mother.
After reflecting on her life, Maddie reunites with Percy at a Princeton mixer and apologizes. Unconvinced, Percy starts to drive off when Maddie jumps on the hood of his car. Unable to see, Percy crashes the car into the ocean. As the car is towed, the pair reconcile and promise to stay friends. Maddie decides to sell the house to Jim and Sara and move to California to pursue her passion for surfing.
Later, Maddie drives Percy to Princeton while on her way to California, and reveals that she has adopted Milo, a former police dogaddicted to cocaine who lived at the shelter where Percy had volunteered. Maddie promises to call Percy during her entire drive to California.
In October 2021, it was announced that Sony Pictures had won a highly competitive R-rated comedy package backed by producer-star Jennifer Lawrence and director Gene Stupnitsky over studios Apple, Netflix, and Universal Pictures for a theatrical-exclusive release.[7][8] Lawrence, Alex Saks, Marc Provissiero, Naomi Odenkirk, and Justine Polsky serve as producers while Stupnitsky co-wrote the screenplay with John Phillips.[8] Its plot came from a real Craigslist ad sent to Stupnitsky by producers Provissiero and Odenkirk, with the former telling Lawrence about the story over dinner with her in mind for the role.[9] In July 2022, it was reported that Sony would be moving forward with the film and engage in a theatrical release set for June 16, 2023.[10]
No Hard Feelings was released in the United States on June 23, 2023. The film was initially scheduled to be released the week prior, on June 16.[10][21]
Home media
The film was released on digital formats, on August 15, 2023, with a DVD and Blu-ray following two weeks later.[22]
Marketing
The marketing campaign for No Hard Feelings began on March 6, 2023, when stunt advertisements reading "Need a Car? 'Date' Our Son" were released on billboards and newsstands across the United States, as well as social platforms such as Instagram, Reddit and Facebook.[23] A trailer for the film—which addresses the advertisements—was released to the public on March 9, 2023.[24] On April 24, 2023, an official poster featuring Lawrence and Feldman was released.[25]PopSugar noted that the labels above reading "pretty" and "awkward", sets up "what's sure to be the movie's central dichotomy".[26]
Reception
Box office
No Hard Feelings grossed $50.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $36.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide gross of $87.3 million.[3][4]
In the United States and Canada, No Hard Feelings was released alongside the wide expansion of Asteroid City, and was projected to gross around $12 million from 3,208 theaters in its opening weekend.[2] The film made $6.25 million on its first day, including $2.15 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to slightly over-perform and debut to $15 million, finishing in fourth. In its second weekend, the film made $7.9 million, and a total of $11.3 million over the five-day Independence Day weekend. Its 48% drop considered "a very solid hold" in a post-COVID marketplace.[27] It then made $5.4 million in its third weekend, finishing in fifth.[28]
On October 22, 2023, the film released on Netflix as a commercial success on the platform. According to Nielsen, it debuted at #1 as the most streamed title of the week during the week of October 23-29, with 1.1 billion minutes viewed.[29] It was the only title to have over 1 billion minutes streamed that week on the Nielsen charts, with it attracting a broad, equal distribution of viewership across the 18-64 age demos, and Hispanic or African American viewers made up 30% of the viewership.[30]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 70% of 226 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "This raunchy comedy often plays it disappointingly safe, but Jennifer Lawrence's comedic and dramatic chops ensure that the end result prompts No Hard Feelings."[31]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 59 out of 100, based on 50 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[32] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 84% of filmgoers gave it a positive score, with 59% saying they would definitely recommend it.[33]
Critics opined the film is an enjoyable showcase for Lawrence's knack for physical comedy.[34][35] Shirley Li of The Atlantic wrote, "Like the Risky Business copycats and hot-girl-meets-dweeby-dude romantic comedies that thrived in the aughts and early 2010s, No Hard Feelings offers some insight into the role that sex plays in the coming-of-age process, and how a perceived pressure to lose your virginity by some arbitrary deadline can remain a cross-generational burden. The film explores the difficulties of growing up, whether at 19 or 32, and the ways in which Maddie's and Percy's attitudes toward sex invite judgment about their levels of maturity."[35] Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, Lovia Gyarkye said, "There's more to each of these characters than meets the eye. Stupnitsky dials down the intensity of the first act — with its sharp comedic timing and energetic slapstick — to make way for sweeter moments with Maddie and Percy."[36]
Tim Grierson from Screen Daily called the movie an uneven, but thoughtful sentimental story about insecure characters with good hearts.[37]Deadline Hollywood called it "a great start post-pandemic for a rare raunch comedy".[33]
Prior to the film's release, some commentators accused No Hard Feelings of promoting sexual grooming.[38] In an article for Bust, Carmella D'Acquisto commented on the film's trailer, writing, "take a moment to think about if this film would be made if the genders were reversed. Can you imagine pitching a film where a 32-year old man was paid to groom and coerce a 19-year-old woman into having sex that she doesn't want to have? No one would make that movie. But it's presented as funny and quirky when a grown woman does the manipulating."[39]
In defense of the film in her review, Sophie Butcher of Empire wrote that the premise is supposed to be "icky" and that the film constantly addresses it saying "Maddie is frequently confronted by the generational gap between her and Percy's peers, but her immaturity means she also often seems childlike by comparison."[40] Feldman, who plays Percy, said in an interview regarding the controversy that, "The film never condones the things that Jennifer's character does or that my character's parents do. This is a movie about flawed people and it's a cringe comedy. You're meant to cringe! You're meant to sit with those uncomfortable feelings." He also noted that the film normalizes "wanting to find love and connection," not pressuring young males to have sexual relationships.[41]
