Rent No Hard Feelings (2023)

Ok RomCom - No Hard Feelings review by GI

There's no doubt that Jennifer Lawrence can do comedy and can do it well. This is clearly a star vehicle for her and she clearly relishes the chance to be the sexy, older woman tasked with seducing a younger lad and get to fight naked on a beach - a particularly hilarious scene. Yet this film seems to have difficulty with itself. The very premise of Maddie (Lawrence), a thirty something, aimless woman, being hired by the silly parents of a quiet, introverted young man to seduce him and bring him into the world as it were, lends itself to a narrative that looks into the issue of sex for money (Maddie needs the car that the parents are offering as payment for the deed and she need it to earn money as an Uber driver). But this film doesn't explore that and simply goes for a romcom type story as the relationship between Maddie and 19 year old Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman) develops in ways that she is unprepared for. Don't get men wrong this has its moments but it's an inconsistent and slightly disappointing film and ultimately quite predictable and it's all done with a sheen of unreality to the concept. I like Jennifer Lawrence and enjoy her films but I was left a little underwhelmed by this.