NO HARD FEELINGS. Within the ever-deepening river of pan-cultural division, there are convoluted, often contradictory undercurrents too numerous to parse. In this new age of (dis)information, some of these knotty notions see more frequent, if less substantive, discussion than they might have in decades past. But for all the pointing and yelling, precious few reach any sort of true airing out; much talking, little conversation. And either as cause or effect, systems and institutions appear more calcified, less fluid than ever.
As usual, I’m acting high-minded here but really I’m just talking about sex movies. And, of course, carping at the centralization of influence within mainstream American cinema. Which is perhaps a strange way to posit that No Hard Feelings is a much better, more contemplative picture than I suspect most are willing to acknowledge.
When we meet Maddie Barker (Jennifer Lawrence), her car is being repossessed. More pointedly, it’s being hauled away by Gary (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), a clearly kind-hearted guy who can’t figure out why Maddie ghosted him when they were dating. There’s some comic background business with the gorgeous Italian who spent the night with Maddie and a funny-sad masquerade as she tries to evade tough questions about her own problems with intimacy.
On the face of it, it’s a fairly typical romantic comedy opening. Though, that makes it somewhat noteworthy: the romantic comedy is a screenplay-driven genre with direct connections to some of the cleverest, most complex writing in cinema history. As decades have progressed, we’ve moved farther from the layered, economical storytelling demanded by a technologically simpler but maybe more emotionally interrogative era in moviemaking. No Hard Feelings reconnects to that time with its goofy, deceptively loaded first scene: Not only have we learned about our protagonist’s financial circumstances, but we know more than a little about her complicated, largely unacknowledged emotional geography. It’s smart writing hiding in plain sight within silly comedy, something that has lately seemed all but extinct.
Due to intense and increasing gentrification by well-heeled “summer people,” Maddie finds herself in arrears on the property taxes of her inherited home. Having relied on a rideshare side hustle to supplement her bartending income and stave off foreclosure. Doom-scrolling Craigslist, she finds an ad promising a low-miles, one-owner Buick in exchange for dating (euphemisms abound) a wealthy couple’s introverted teenage son before he heads off to college, unbeknownst to him, of course. It’s all more than a little problematic but ends justify means.
And so, Maddie throws on a sundress and her rollerblades, and heads over to meet the linen-clad, chardonnay-sipping parents in question (Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti). Informed of their hopes for their son, she redoubles her intent to cursorily deflower the kid, collect the Buick and continue salvaging her financial life. Young Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman) proves a more difficult conquest than anticipated, stirring feelings of genuine affection and memories of adolescent disappointment and premature toughening.
As Maddie and Percy’s kinda-sorta relationship continues and college commencement draws ever closer, the complexity of the arrangement weighs on them both; he might be in love, she might like him too much to have cynical sex with him. And as Percy begins to question the fundamental nature of their togetherness he draws away from Maddie, triggering her fear of abandonment and further complicating her own (mostly unexamined) feelings.
The nuance of the screenplay is crucial here, of course, but a romantic comedy that isn’t funny isn’t really much good to me. No Hard Feelings goes big, almost ridiculous with some of its set pieces: Terrified of Maddie in her full maneater mode, Percy pepper sprays her repeatedly; Maddie beats the shit out of some mischievous teens in the nude; both Maddie and Percy find themselves trapped on the hood of a moving car. And in the balancing of actual emotional exploration, with its clear-eyed look at sexuality from dual perspectives of uninformed romance and expedient gratification, the movie manages a much more sophisticated presentation of two people wrestling with themselves and each other. A scene in which Maddie wanders through a high-school party, a beautiful, self-assured woman made to feel out of place and ostracized, is one of the most authentic depictions of insecurity and generational distance I’ve ever seen.
Which would all be wasted effort, of course, if the relationship in question was not plausible and elevated enough to be entertaining. And the dynamic between Lawrence (doing maybe the best work of her career) and Feldman (a relative newcomer with near-perfect comic timing) is so compelling, so variably hilarious and heartbreaking, is just the thing. Ever in the background, the specter of insidious speculative investment (the leisure class) displacing the residents of their most recently chosen sandbox. R. 103M. BROADWAY, MILL CREEK.
John J. Bennett (he/him) is a movie nerd who loves a good car chase.
NOW PLAYING
ASTEROID CITY. Astronomy enthusiasts are at the center of the latest Wes Anderson comedy. PG13. 105M. BROADWAY, MINOR.
THE BOOGEYMAN. A monster in the closet that isn’t a member of the GOP for once. PG13. 98M. BROADWAY.
ELEMENTAL. Animated adventure about a city of fire, water, earth and air elements. Voiced by Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie and Catherine O’Hara. PG. 93M. BROADWAY, MILL CREEK.
THE FLASH. A whole multiverse and we’re stuck in the one where Ezra Miller still has a job. PG13. 144M. BROADWAY.
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3. Marvel’s misfit space squad returns. With Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista. PG13. 149M. BROADWAY, MILL CREEK.
HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS (2002). Part of a Wednesday and Thursday morning $2 family series. PG 201M. BROADWAY.
INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY. Harrison Ford returns as an aging Indy to punch some Nazis. With Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Mads Mikkelsen. PG13. 142M. BROADWAY, MILL CREEK, MINOR.
THE LITTLE MERMAID. Live-action Disney remake of the fairy tale with Halle Bailey in fins and Melissa McCarthy in tentacles. PG. 135M. BROADWAY, MILL CREEK.
PAST LIVES. Korean childhood friends reunite in New York City years later in this romance. PG13. 106M. MINOR.
RUBY GILLMAN, TEENAGE KRAKEN. Animated adventure in which krakens are misunderstood and mermaids are the worst. PG. 90M. BROADWAY, MILL CREEK.
SONIC (2020). Part of a Wednesday and Thursday morning $2 family series. PG. 99M. BROADWAY.
SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE. Animated sequel to the Miles Morales adventure. PG. 140M. BROADWAY, MILL CREEK.
TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS. The robot cars team up with robot animals. Starring Michelle Yeoh, Pete Davidson and, hell, everybody, I guess. PG13. 127M BROADWAY.
THE WIND RISES (2013). Hayao Miyazaki’s animated bio about a Japanese fighter plane designer. Part of Ghibli series. (Dubbed in English.) PG13. 140M. MINOR.
Fortuna Theatre is temporarily closed due to earthquake damage. For showtimes call: Broadway Cinema (707) 443-3456; Mill Creek Cinema 839-3456; Minor Theatre (707) 822-3456.
This article appears in Pride in Full Stride.