No Hard Feelings is a 2023 coming-of-age comedy that stars Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence, and details about the cast, story, trailer, and release date have all been announced. The movie revolves around a bankrupt Uber driver, who accepts a wealthy couple’s offer to make their 19-year-old son more socially outgoing, even going to the extent of asking her to date him. With a Red Band trailer offering a taste of its raunchy humor, No Hard Feelings is helmed by writer-director Gene Stupnitsky, who previously wrote Bad Teacher and marked his filmmaking debut with the heavily-acclaimed Good Boys. Stupnitsky also pens the screenplay along with Dirty Grandpa scribe John Phillips.
Apart from Lawrence’s backing as lead actor and producer, No Hard Feeling’s premise is what has been generating interest. As mentioned in Entertainment Weekly, the film’s origins can be traced to a bizarre Craiglist ad that Stupnitsky was sent by producers Marc Provissiero and Naomi Odenkirk. Much like what is shown in No Hard Feelings, the ad was indeed published by a couple wanting a woman to help befriend and date their socially awkward son. However, Lawrence’s new movie is already creating controversial given the age gap between its two main characters and the plot (which has been concerning some audiences).
No Hard Feelings Latest News
The latest news around No Hard Feelings comes from mid-May when Gene Stupnitsky and Jennifer Lawrence offered some amusing behind-the-scenes details in an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly. The writer and director opened up on how upon reading about the Craiglist ad, he thought of a scenario where a woman actually responds to it. This is how Stupnitsky got his longtime friend Lawrence on board as she was his first casting choice. The actor-producer adds that she joined the movie even before a script was finalized as she found the ad hilarious. She also called Stupnitsky’s final product “the funniest screenplay I’ve ever read in my life”.
No Hard Feelings Release Date
No Hard Feelings is slated for a summer release window with the movie arriving in theaters on June 23, 2023. As of now, the comedy would not face any stiff box office competition as the only other major movie releasing that day will be the Gabrielle Union-fronted romantic comedy The Perfect Find which will go directly on Netflix. If there are any movies that might affect No Hard Feelings’ money-making potential, these would be DC’s The Flash and Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City both of which will release a week before. Similarly, the weekend after No Hard Feelings’ release can be dominated by Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
No Hard Feelings Cast
Jennifer Lawrence leads the No Hard Feelings cast as Maddie, a young Uber driver who is down on her luck and compelled to strike an unlikely deal from a Craiglist ad. Like many of her other movies, Lawrence will also serve as producer. With Lawrence garnering multiple Oscar nominations and even winning one for her performance in Silver Linings Playbook, she has proven her dramatic prowess with hints of deadpan humor. But No Hard Feelings will find her fronting a full-fledged comedy for a change. She told Entertainment Weekly that her performance is inspired by Step Brothers, Dumb and Dumber, and “anything by the Farrelly brothers or Armando Iannucci”.
Joining Lawrence in the lead role is Andrew Barth Feldman as the mild-mannered 19-year-old Percy. who embarks on awkward misadventures with Maddie. Feldman is a relative newcomer to Hollywood having only appeared in the Netflix rom-com A Tourist’s Guide to Love a few months before No Hard Feelings’ release. However, the actor is acclaimed in the musical theater circuit having also played the titular protagonist in Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway for a year. Feldman is joined by Laura Benanti (Nashville, Supergirl, Tick, Tick …Boom!) and Matthew Broderick (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Godzilla, Election) who play his on-screen parents Allison and Laird respectively.
Much like Feldman, Benanti has had significant theater experience, earning herself several Tony nominations during her Broadway career. Broderick, who sports a long gray-haired wig for his role, will be returning to acting after a brief role in 2020’s Lazy Susan. Additionally, Natalie Morales (Parks and Recreation, Language Lessons) and Scott MacArthur (The Mick, The Righteous Gemstones) are cast as Maddie’s friends Sara and Jim. Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear, Andor) plays Maddie’s disgruntled ex Gary. Even though their roles are undisclosed, comedians Hasan Minhaj (Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj) and Kyle Mooney (Saturday Night Live) are also some of the high-profile names roped in for No Hard Feelings.
No Hard Feelings Story Details
Based on the press interviews and the trailer, No Hard Feelings promises to deliver a story that can be compared to raunchy situational comedies like Superbad, Old School and Stupnitsky’s own Good Boys. While the story initially dabbles in Maddie’s financial and personal crisis, matters grow more complicated when she accepts an offer requiring her to seduce the awkward teenager Percy. With his parents hellbent on making him socialize before he starts college, a comedy of errors is expected with Percy even getting protective of Maddie at a point in time. The academically gifted Percy also gets to reveal his emotional vulnerabilities to his new friend.
For the bankrupt New Yorker Maddie, a brand new Buick Regal awaits at the end of the bargain. However, the central friendship in No Hard Feelings seems to offer a life-changing experience for Maddie herself. The plot also has enough space for R-rated over-the-top comedy. Despite No Hard Feelings promising to be a wild ride, the age gap between its protagonists definitely didn’t sit well with some audiences. Maybe, the movie actually explores grooming and how problematic it is through a satirical lens but that just seems speculative at this point.
No Hard Feelings Trailer
The first trailer for No Hard Feelings premiered on March 9, 2023. Announced as a Red Band trailer, the clip clocked at over 3 minutes and revealed the movie’s style of brash, sexually-charged humor. With Nicki Minaj’s 2022 rap single “Super Freaky Girl” playing in the background, the No Hard Feelings trailer touched upon most of the major plot points and introduced the lead and supporting performers (even though Minhaj and Mooney don’t appear throughout it). Just three days before its release, interest was already being generated for the No Hard Feelings trailer with stunt advertisements on billboards, newsstands and social media reading “Need a car? ‘Date’ our son”.
Warning: This video contains strong language
Source: Entertainment Weekly, SONY Pictures Entertainment
