Review: No Hard Feelings - plenty of fun amid the dodginess

It’s got some sweet moments, some pretty decent laughs and a second half far, far better than the first. In fact, it’s pretty likeable in the end.

But there’s just a slight feeling that No Hard Feelings can never quite overcome the sheer dodginess, not to say implausibility, of its premise.

Of course it takes all kinds of parental love to make a world, but, feeling that their offspring is overly introverted and far too inexperienced in all departments to make anything other than a complete hash of college, Percy’s ma and pa Laird (Matthew Broderick) and Allison (Laura Benanti) set out to hire a sex worker to rob poor Percy of his innocence.

OK, it’s not a sex worker who turns up, but it’s a sex worker they are happy to employ. And in return for this life-enhancing experience, they are prepared to offer a car – which is exactly what hooks Maddie (Jennifer Lawrence).

Maddie is in a rut (no, not that kind), scratching out a living as an Uber driving, a meagre living which comes crashing down when her car is repossessed. Hence her interest in Laird and Allison’s distinctly questionable advert. She turns up, super brash, super confident, determined to win her motor.

Of course, completely predictably, the heart of the film is the unexpected friendship, with all its ups and downs (no, not those ups and downs) which develops between the two, leading to Percy’s total sense of betrayal when he accidentally learns that his parents were, to all intents and purposes, swapping his virginity for a car.

The oddest thing is that you suspect that poor old Percy is perfectly alright anyway. Nerdy, shy, totally lacking in confidence, but fundamentally alright in a way which was sure to have come out just as soon as he got to college and away from his weird parents.

The first half of the film is pretty unappealing, but as things shift, so it grows – Maddie showing her vulnerabilities and Percy starting to show a few hidden strengths. She’s the girl who has never found the strength to grow up and move away; Percy is on the point of flourishing anyway. And there are some touching scenes – amongst some genuinely funny ones, amongst others which are just a bit unpleasant.

But by the end, it’s a film which more or less wins you over. Maddie at first is determined to deflower Percy; he’s keen enough at times but clearly unsure of the implications. But these are nice performances and you start to sense something between them which might just overcome the big age gap.

Andrew Barth Feldman is geekily odd and rather sweet as Percy, unflowered rather than deflowered, and Lawrence manages to make Maddie not just more interesting but also more likeable the longer the film goes on.

It feels like the kind of film it’s going to be ever so easy to forget, but to its credit, it’s also a film which ends up far more enjoyable than its opening three quarters of an hour or so would have you think.

But crikey, those parents...​​​​