'No Hard Feelings' winningly adapts the '80s sex comedy for 2023
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You’re not going to see “Weird Science” remade anytime soon, or at least not in a version that recalls the spirit of the original. That isn’t to target the 1985 teen sex fantasy but to use it as just one example of how much has changed in the nearly 40 years (!) since. If you don’t know what I mean, you can probably just stop reading.
If you do, great! You’ll probably enjoy “No Hard Feelings,” which posits a somewhat antiquated concept — What if a beautiful woman was secretly paid to date, and wink-wink-nudge-nudge probably more than just date, a super shy dude before he goes to college — and effectively turns it into a study of avoidance-based living that stems from emotional trauma. Yes, the word “horny” is still mentioned repeatedly, and, no, that doesn’t mean nudity is a thing of the past. But it does mean that in 2023 a movie like this isn’t — or shouldn’t be — existing just so a bunch of drooling 11-year-olds can fast-forward to the boobies during a sleepover. Directed and co-written by Gene Stupnitsky (who also helmed the surprisingly solid “Good Boys”), “No Hard Feelings” is grown up enough to acknowledge the interaction between mental and physical, and how emotions drive behavior even when we think they don’t.
Just to clarify, though: This is not a high-minded psychological examination. Numerous cars get destroyed. Multiple terrible accidents involve pain to different parts of the body. A running gag involves a dog working through a cocaine addiction.
The plot, if you’re still with us, involves Maddie (Jennifer Lawrence, appealing and specific no matter how typecast she may seem), desperate to save her mom’s house and without a car to work as an Uber driver during the busy tourist summers in Montauk, agreeing to date introverted 19-year-old Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman, impressive) and receive a Buick in exchange. Naturally there are several moments in which people think it’s weird that a 32-year-old is hanging out with a teenager, and any movie hinging on a main character discovering a lie (Percy doesn’t know Maddie’s been hired by his parents, played by Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti) contains a certain dull inevitability in its plotting. “No Hard Feelings” also doesn’t have enough memorable characters or clever set pieces to land on the level of (the also high-concept, less-enlightened) “The Girl Next Door.” In fact, the screechy comic pitch of most of the set pieces in “NHF” are usually much, much less funny than what’s otherwise a sharp and often hilarious script.
But a healthy dose of laughs and characters you root for can overcome even a handful of ill-considered gags, especially when “No Hard Feelings” presents thoughts about trust and kindness being essential in sparking personal growth while refusing to create any sort of pedestal for Maddie. Far-fetched as the premise may be, this is a movie about pain and shyness and steadying the car by turning into the skid. Ideally without a person clinging to the windshield.
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