Montauk. Maddie has tough luck: due to debt, her car has been confiscated, making her job as an Uber driver impossible. She thus applies to a peculiar add where rich parents Laird and Allison want a woman to "hard date" their shy teenage son Percy, so that he can lose his virginity and "get out of his shell" before going to Princeton University, and are willing to give her a car for compensation. Maddie contacts Percy who works at a dog shelter and persuades him to go out on a date with her. They go swimming naked in the ocean, but he is still reluctant to have sex with her. They get to know each other better and Maddie actually becomes fond of him. When Percy finds out Maddie was actually hired, he is angry and demolishes the car intended for Maddie. However, Maddie makes up with him, sells her house to go to California, while Percy goes to Princeton.
An amusing and untypical comedy for grown ups, "No Hard Feelings" is at first a crass, but later on a genuinely sincere and even emotional romantic comedy about a girl hired to "make a man" out of a shy teenager with stunted social skills. It owes most of its charm to the relentlessly dedicated performance by Jennifer Lawrence who is excellent as the heroine Maddie, demonstrating that comedy roles suit her better than too serious dramas, and one is almost surprised at what lengths she would go just to keep the movie going and preventing it to falter even during its weaker parts. One of the most insane moments is when Maddie is trying to seduce the shy Percy, so she persudes him to go skinny dipping with her in the sea during the night. While they are having awkward talk in the water, three teenagers on the beach try to steal their clothes, so Maddie goes back to the shore and beats them up, naked (!), returning their clothes and chasing them away, in a badass moment that is unexpected. More tender, grounded parts develop, such as the neat scene where the introverted Percy surprisingly sits at a piano in a restaurant and starts playing Hall & Oates song "Maneater", in a very romantic melody, which transforms not only Maddie's perception of him, but also the perception of all the guests in the place. Not all jokes work, though, and a fair share of them feels as if on "autopilot" at certain moments, lacking that ratio where inspiration outnumbers routine, and some situations are highly illogical (would a teenage guy, no matter how shy he is, be afraid of an attractive woman in a mini skirt driving him in a van and taking his phone, to such an extent that he would actually mace her?! It would make more sense if the gender roles were reversed, because one cannot buy said sequence), but the characters are sweet and have an emotional side to them, which makes the vewers care about them.
Grade:++
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