This article contains spoilers.
Jennifer Lawrence’s new film No Hard Feelings is a modern-day feminist sex comedy, enlivened by ribald humour and occasional gross-out moments. But it’s also a crucible for working through a range of cultural anxieties dogging both romantic comedies and the wider popular culture.
Lawrence’s promiscuous, in-your-face bartender and Uber driver Maddie (32) is hired by wealthy helicopter parents to seduce their nerdy virgin son Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman) before he starts college to enhance his confidence and social prospects. In this film, sex is a site of juvenile innuendo (see the title) and also of authentic emotion, as Percy’s physical vulnerability leads to bonding.
