In a saner world, we would have already had a dozen Jennifer Lawrence comedies.

When aliens arrive they will surely go directly to IMDB to survey her filmography and wonder why one of HollywoodB次元官网网址檚 funniest and most naturally charismatic stars spent the first decade of her career in dystopias, action movies and whatever it is you call B次元官网网址淢other!B次元官网网址�

As if to make up for lost time, made the kind of R-rated teen comedy that has usually launched young actors. She plays a 32-year-old Montauk Uber driver who, desperate for money after her car is towed, is hired by the wealthy parents (Matthew Broderick, Laura Benanti) of a timid and sheltered 19-year-old (newcomer Andrew Barth Feldman) to take his virginity before he heads off to Princeton.

WeB次元官网网址檝e, of course, had plenty of movies about teenagers trying to get laid for the first time. But directed and co-written by Gene Stupnitsky, may be the first in which the teen in question has seemingly no desire to do so. HeB次元官网网址檚 heterosexual, his parents are sure based on his browsing history.

But when Maddie Barker (Lawrence) turns up in a tight pink dress and heels at the Long Island animal shelter Percy (Feldman) works at, he responds mostly with prickliness and fear to her come-ons. The encounter ends with Percy spraying Maddie with mace.

Now, a 19-year-old rejecting Jennifer Lawrence like this is potentially a good way to sever any possible connection the audience has with one of your main characters. ItB次元官网网址檚 like having him smack a child. Some things are unforgiveable. Maddie and Percy go on a series of increasingly intimate dates, and Percy vows to eventually B次元官网网址減ut out.B次元官网网址�

The basis of B次元官网网址淣o Hard Feelings,B次元官网网址� all around, is fairly untenable. Even less believable than PercyB次元官网网址檚 response to Maddie is her involvement in this scheme in the first place. In the movieB次元官网网址檚 opening scenes, her car is towed away by a ghosted ex-boyfriend (Ebon Moss-Bachrach of B次元官网网址淭he BearB次元官网网址�). In the uber-rich environs of Montauk, Maddie is trying to hold onto her house B次元官网网址� the one she grew up in B次元官网网址� while foreclosure lurks.

Maddie, forced to rollerblade to her bartending job, may be financially desperate. But, say what you will about the gig economy, it offers plenty of alternatives to earning money besides sleeping with teenagers who cringe when the restaurant doesnB次元官网网址檛 have Pepsi.

And yet, B次元官网网址淣o Hard FeelingsB次元官网网址� works better than it ought to. The preposterousness of the set-up is, naturally, part of the joke. Feldman, who here resembles the awkward brought to life, brings more sensitivity to the role than you would expect, and flashes of good comic timing. So uncomfortable is he on their dates that at the sound of a break in a nearby game of pool, he jumps like a frightened cat. Skinny dipping in the ocean, he doggy paddles.

And while the role forces Lawrence into raunchy situations that could easily be said to be beneath her, B次元官网网址淣o Hard FeelingsB次元官网网址� gives her plenty of room to showcase her talent at upending traditional ideas of Hollywood glamour. At every moment, she delights in undercutting her own sexiness; itB次元官网网址檚 not every A-lister whose willing to film a beach brawl in the nude. Lawrence B次元官网网址� Hollywood screenwriters take note B次元官网网址� is more at home parodying the sex bomb than being one.

Yet while B次元官网网址淣o Hard FeelingsB次元官网网址� finally gives Lawrence (also an executive producer) a platform for some of the slapstick humor sheB次元官网网址檚 so good at, it also feels like sheB次元官网网址檚 been inserted into the framework of a quite male coming-of-age rom-com/fantasy. Big-screen comedies are dishearteningly few and far between these days, so itB次元官网网址檚 temping to applaud that B次元官网网址淣o Hard Feelings,B次元官网网址� which opens in theaters Friday, simply exists.

StupnitskyB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淕ood BoysB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� the house-party movie B次元官网网址� into an R-rated romp for sixth-graders. But B次元官网网址淣o Hard FeelingsB次元官网网址� can feel stuck in adolescence. There are times here where youB次元官网网址檙e glad Lawrence is at least getting to act with adults. (Natalie Morales and Scott MacArthur are good as MaddieB次元官网网址檚 friends.) Lawrence could have easily carried a comedy thatB次元官网网址檚 just on MaddieB次元官网网址檚 level, without the amateur-escort-for-a-kid storyline.

B次元官网网址淣o Hard FeelingsB次元官网网址� does, though, smartly dig into a generation gap in inverting the genreB次元官网网址檚 standard beats. Percy B次元官网网址� and many of his classmates B次元官网网址� are depicted as too tethered to their phones and too delicate to perceived offenses. In one scene, Maddie tears down the upstairs hall of a high-school party. Behind every door, there are kids not making out but calmly texting or playing video games B次元官网网址� a portrait of Gen Z Incredulous, Maddie exclaims: B次元官网网址淒oesnB次元官网网址檛 anyone fB次元官网网址�- anymore?B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淣o Hard Feelings,B次元官网网址� a Sony Pictures release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for sexual content, language, some graphic nudity and brief drug use. Running time: 103 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

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