Maddie (Jennifer Lawrence) is at risk of losing her home in Montauk, New York as a result of property taxes rocketing as its status as a fantastic summer destination rises. Working as an Uber driver and bartender she is in even more peril when her car is repossessed. Cue crazy job possibility where a rich couple (played by Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti) offer a car in return for “breaking in” their shy nineteen year old son Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman). 

No Hard Feelings is part rude comedy, part coming of age story and part age gap romance. None of it really gels together into a satisfying whole but Jennifer Lawrence is typically brilliant and there are a few laugh out loud moments. 

Maddie is a little bit of a mess. She has lived in Montauk all her life and hates the rich summer families who are driving up property prices and taxes. Flitting between flings she is unable to create meaningful relationships with anyone except her best friend Sara (Natalie Morales) and her boyfriend Jim (Scott MacArthur). 

Initially she enters into the task of opening Percy’s horizons as a transactional arrangement until of course he unwittingly makes her see herself better. 

The age gap comedy mostly revolves around the fact that at the age of 32, Maddie is happy to sling homophobic insults and get drunk whilst at 19, Percy and his peers are more aware of gender and sexuality inclusivity, drink less and use their phones way too much. Whilst the coming of age story mostly revolves around a sheltered rich kid realising that he is actually an adult now and a 32 year old woman realising she has been running from her problems her whole life. 

The biggest problem with the film though is that it’s hard to care. Our protagonists are an intelligent 19 year old who has been sheltered his entire life learning that he actually needs to take some accountability for himself and a 32 year old who owns her own home in a wonderful location who just needs to face into her personal issues and pay her taxes. And whilst my empathy for those characters is in low gear the jokes are sporadic and a little awkward. 

Very much a film that will have you scratching your head at the end as to whether it was worth your time and probably forgotten entirely in a year or two.