Film / No Hard Feelings

No Hard Feelings is a 2023 comedy film from director Gene Stupnitsky (Good Boys), who also co-wrote the script with John Phillips. It stars Jennifer Lawrence, Andrew Barth Feldman, Laura Benanti, and Matthew Broderick. It was released on June 23rd, 2023.

Maddie Barker (Lawrence) is a slacker with a habit of ghosting her past lovers. When she is in danger of losing her mother's house due to higher property taxes, she finds an ad listing by a rich couple named Alison and Laird Becker (Benanti and Broderick, respectively) to "date" (that is, have sex with) their awkward son Percy (Feldman) before he goes off to college, in exchange for a Buick Regal that Maddie can use for her job as an Uber driver. While Maddie goes in with selfish intentions, she begins to form a genuine friendship with Percy.

Previews: Red Band Trailer 1, Red Band Trailer 2

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This film provides examples of:

• Action Girl: Maddie is a very skilled brawler, as she demonstrates when she beats the shit out of three people with her bare hands – and her bare ass.
• Actor Allusion: Early in the movie Laird, played by Matthew Broderick, mentions that Percy doesn't do the same things he did when he was a teenager, like go out, party, and talk to girls. Broderick's breakthrough role was as a teenager famous for doing exactly those things.
• Age-Gap Romance:
  • Maddie is 32 and Percy 19, which puts them way outside the "half your age plus seven" rule. Percy's parents tried to avoid this by looking for a girl in her early to mid-20s to "date" Percy, but Maddie's arguments persuade them to go with it.
  • Doug Khan dated and then married his and Maddie's high-school Spanish teacher, who was 40 years their senior.
  • The age gap between Percy‘s parents is at least as high as between him and Maddie (the actors are 17 years apart)- and it is clearly visible. But it isn‘t even mentioned, possibly a case of Moral Myopia.
• Age Insecurity: Maddie finds it difficult to admit her actual age during her interview with Percy's parents.
  Maddie: I know you were looking for someone early to mid-20s. I’m slightly older.
  Allison: Right. How old?
  Maddie: I just turned 29.
  Allison: Recently?
  Maddie: Last year.
  Laird: So you’re 29?
  Maddie: Last year.
  Allison: And how old are you, like, right now?
  Maddie: One more year older.
  Laird: So 30.
  Maddie: Yeah. 32.
• Big Brother Instinct: Jodie, Percy's male nanny from childhood, is understandably weirded out when he finds out Percy is dating a much older woman, and threatens her if she hurts Percy in any way.
• Blatant Lies: When Percy asks his parents if they were behind one of his school bullies getting expelled, his father Laird tries to deny it, claiming that he'd been told it was the bully's dream to go to military school. He also asks Maddie if she attacked the three drunk teenagers who tried to steal their clothes, she says that "they apologized".
• Brick Joke:
  • While Maddie is discussing the ad listing with her friends Sara and Jim, Jim makes a crack about the kid jizzing his pants. Near the end of the movie when Maddie and Percy actually attempt to have sex, Percy ejaculates prematurely on Maddie's thighs before they can actually complete the intercourse.
  • When Maddie first meets Percy under the guise of wanting to adopt a dog from the shelter he works at, he introduces her to a dog named Milo that was addicted to cocaine and gets triggered when he hears the word. Later, when Percy's co-worker refuses to tell Maddie where Percy is, she says "cocaine" so Milo can bother the co-worker.
  • When he first meets Maddie, Jodie threatens her with his connections to screw her over if she hurts Percy. Near the end of the movie he follows through on that threat by using his friendship with the county assessor to get her property taxes raised… after she has already sold the house.
• Butt-Monkey: Maddie, throughout the film, gets subjected to various Amusing Injuries, slapstick and humiliating situations as she dates Percy.
• Censorship by Spelling: Percy does this with the word "cocaine" in front of Milo, one of the dogs in the shelter he volunteers at, because Milo is addicted to cocaine and gets triggered when he hears the word.
• Complexity Addiction: The scheme Percy's parents come up with (placing an ad listing offering an old used car as payment for a young woman to take their son's virginity) is needlessly complicated, specially in light of the fact that their initial conversation with Maddie shows that they fully expected a professional sex worker to answer it. Why they didn't just use cash to hire a prostitute in the first place is never addressed.
  • Most likely this was to get around Craigslist rules against selling or seeking adult services, and to avoid the money trail of an actual cash expenditure.
• Creepy Stalker Van: Maddie borrows Jim's windowless van to pick up Percy on their supposed first date. Jim apparently does odd jobs here and there so all his tools are in the back, including a machete.
• Crappy Homemade Gift: Maddie gives her pregnant friend a homemade mobile made from an umbrella and tiny toy surfboards. She reacts politely but unenthusiastically.
• Didn't Think This Through: When hatching their scheme, Alison and Laird didn't stop to consider the possibility that a teenager with absolutely no previous experience with romantic relationships or sex, who all of a sudden found himself in a sexual relationship with a gorgeous older woman, might develop a very strong emotional attachment to her. Thus they are caught completely flatfooted when Percy announces that he is quitting Princeton to live with Maddie in Montauk.
• Disappeared Dad: Maddie is the result of an affair her mother had with a married man. Afterwards, Maddie's father returned to his family and then paid Maddie's mother off and gave them a house so they would stop bothering him.
• Easily-Overheard Conversation: While in his parents' Bluetooth-equipped Tesla, Percy accidentally hears a phone call between his parents and Maddie as she is talking about their deal to sleep with Percy in exchange for the car.
• Epic Fail: When Percy attempts to defend Maddie from some people forcing her to leave a party, he throws a punch that completely misses them and hits Maddie in the throat.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Maddie was more than willing to sleep with Percy purely to win a free car, but refuses to do so when he gets too drunk and tells her he loves her.
  • Several characters point out that Maddie could become a sex worker to solve her financial problems, but she balks at the idea despite basically agreeing to a Sex for Services arrangement with the Beckers.
• Fauxshadow: The movie drops several hints that Maddie will eventually solve her problems by contacting her rich father who abandoned her, most prominently Percy telling her that she does indeed have a rich Daddy who could solve all her problems; but instead she ends up using the Buick she got from the Beckers to earn the money and even have some leftover to fix the car.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: When the Princeton teens are live-streaming Maddie, one of the comments is "That was my Uber driver."
• Full-Frontal Assault: Maddie is completely butt naked when she fights the three assholes who steal her and Percy's clothes while they're skinny-dipping. And she still kicks their asses.
• Gender-Blender Name: Maddie assumes Percy's former nanny Jodie is a woman at first.
• The Generation Gap: Between the millennial Maddie and Percy's Gen-Z peers. She crashes a Wild Teen Party and has to deal with a generation where everyone has a video camera in their pocket and they are much more concerned about politically correct language.
• Generation Xerox: Laird explains to Maddie that their scheme is a deliberate attempt to invoke this trope, as Laird was also a very shy and awkward teenager like Percy, until a sexual relationship with his first girlfriend broke him out of his shell.
• Gone Swimming, Clothes Stolen: When Maddie and Percy go Skinny Dipping, a bunch of teens try to steal their clothes. Maddie rushes out of the water, beats them up and takes the clothes back.
• Groin Attack: During the brawl at the beach with the three drunks, Female Groin Invincibility is subverted as Maddie immediately kicks the sole woman in the group right in the vagina, who falls to her knees in pain. The girl later returns the favor by punching Maddie right back in the vagina, leading her to respond in kind.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: It doesn't take much to set Maddie off. She loses her temper with Percy quickly when her initial attempts to bed him fail, as well as when she thinks he's hooking up with Natalie at a party.
• Helicopter Parents: Percy's parents micro-manage his life, tracking his phone so they can know where he is at all times, getting one of his bullies in high school expelled and sent to military school, letting him sleep in their room until well into his teens, deciding which Ivy League university he will go to, and of course setting up the whole scheme with Maddie. They agree to become more hands-off later on when he finally confronts them about it.
• Hidden Depths: Percy is initially depicted as an awkward and timid nerd, but he is a skilled pianist and plays "Maneater" for Maddie and a crowd at a restaurant, which earns him applause.
• If You Ever Do Anything To Hurt Him: Jodie makes it very clear to Maddie that if Percy gets hurt as a result of his relationship with Maddie, Jodie is going to come after her.
• The Internet Is for Porn: Percy's parents are sure he is not gay because they reviewed his browsing history, and what was in there was graphic but straight.
• Ironic Echo: After their failed skinny-dipping session, Percy, who demands she give him his phone, is left hanging onto the front of Maddie's car while she drives away and says "I guess we're doing this." Near the end of the film when she tries to apologize to him, he does the same to her and repeats the same phrase.
• Ivy League for Everyone: Percy is going to Princeton, and he sees an old friend, Lucy, who is also going to Princeton. Maddie, on the other hand, didn't go to college. This is somewhat justified by its setting in an affluent and gentrifying beach town.
• Let the Past Burn: Maddie burns the letter returned unopened from her father 14 years ago, signaling that she's letting go of her past.
• Literal Maneater: Percy takes "Maneater" by Hall & Oates literally and thinks it's about a monster that eats men.
• Ma'am Shock: Maddie doesn't take it well when Percy's peers call her ma'am or refer to her as an "older woman".
• Maybe Ever After: By the end of the film Maddie and Percy are on good terms. They seem to be content just being friends for the time being, but the idea of a real romance isn't out of the question in the future.
• Meet Cute: Invoked. Maddie and Percy's parents deliberately stage one when they ask her to visit Percy at the animal shelter where he does some volunteer work so they can hit it off "naturally". Unfortunately, he either can't take a hint or is just so anxious that he clams up in her presence. He even mistakes Maddie for a serial killer and pepper sprays her.
• Mistaken for Pedophile:
  • Maddie semi-seriously accuses Jodie of this due to being a male nanny who's still really close to Percy.
  • Percy slept in his parents' room well into his teens. This eventually led to a rumor that he had sex with his parents.
• Mistaken for Murderer: Percy gets the wrong idea when Maddie first shows interest in him. Rather than go along with it like Maddie had hoped a Hormone-Addled Teenager would have at the sight of her, he's completely weirded out by the sudden attention. Maddie also uses a Creepy Stalker Van to pick him up and takes his phone when he tries to text his parents. She gets a face full of pepper spray for her troubles.
• Mistaken for Prostitute: When Maddie first answers the Beckers' ad, Alison and Laird at first assume she is a professional sex worker.
• Naked People Are Funny: Maddie beats up several people who stole her clothes while she was skinny-dipping.
• No Antagonist: Maddie's predicament is not the fault of any one individual. None of the rich folks moving into town and causing the Villainous Gentrification that is raising her property taxes even know she exists and the authorities threatening to take her house if she doesn't pay don't even appear on-screen.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Maddie doesn't remember Doug despite his numerous academic and athletic accomplishments in high school. She only remembers him as the guy who had sex with their Spanish teacher.
• Phoneaholic Teenager:
  • Even with a gorgeous woman aggressively coming unto him Percy can't help but look at his phone all the time.
  • When Maddie crashes the high-school party, she is profoundly annoyed and inconvenienced by the fact that all the teens are on their phones texting, taking pictures, or live-streaming.
• Political Correctness Is Evil: Maddie attempts to crash a teen party, but her attempt to brush off two guys hitting on her (and calling her old) by telling them to go screw each other immediately gets her accused of hating gay people by the overly sensitive teens. It initially seems like an example of The Generation Gap, but then the boy's Gen X parents are shown to be just as outraged. It adds a rather uncomfortable class war dynamic between Lower-Class Lout Maddie and the super-PC, out-of-town yuppie family.
• Product Placement: Maddie is an Uber driver and pays off her house through a season of driving.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Jodie correctly deduces that Maddie's relationship with Percy is a fraud based on self-interest on her part, but is wrong about the why. She is not a Gold Digger after the Beckers' money, she has been offered payment by them to "date" Percy.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Jodie threatens Maddie that if she hurts Percy, he will use his connections from nannying for very important people to screw her over. He follows through on this threat by using his connections with the county assessor to get Maddie's property taxes raised. To bad she has already sold the house by then.
• Sex as Rite-of-Passage: The whole plot of the movie is kicked off by the fact that Percy's parents believe that having sex will be enough, in and of itself, to bring Percy out of his shell.
• Shout-Out:
  • Percy is seen playing Mortal Kombat at one point.
  • When Maddie goes Skinny Dipping with Percy after their first dinner, he worries that it's very similar to the opening of Jaws.
• Skinny Dipping: Maddie tries to seduce Percy by convincing him to go skinny-dipping with her at night. The mood is ruined, however when a bunch of teens try to steal their clothes and Maddie has to get out of the water to beat them up. Even after she manages to defeat them and tries to resume what she was doing, Percy is already too freaked out by her behavior and wants to leave, much to her frustration.
• Summer Romance: Deconstructed. Percy's parents want him to get an older… friend to take his virginity, so he can become more experienced and less afraid of life before he goes to college. They hire Maddie for this purpose, and Percy immediately has feelings for her. While Maddie is initially prepared to go through with it, they develop a (nonsexual) friendship over the summer that helps them both grow into adulthood.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: When Maddie attempts to kick down the door of the room where she thinks Percy is about to have sex with Natalie, instead of opening her whole foot just goes through the flimsy wood of the door. She might have had more success if she aimed for the lock instead of the door panels.
• Teacher/Student Romance: Maddie has trouble remembering her former high-school classmate Doug Khan until he mentions that he had an affair with their Spanish teacher who was 40 years their senior. Turns out the teacher went to jail, but they still got married.
• Technical Virgin: Near the end of the movie, Maddie and Percy have a discussion about whether or not he is still a virgin, because Percy ejaculated before achieving penetration. Maddie believes this trope is in play, while Percy thinks it still counts.
• That Came Out Wrong: Maddie finds herself backpedaling in a hurry when it is pointed out that an insult she hurled at someone she is arguing with is only an insult if you're homophobic.
• Those Two Guys: Jim and Sarah, a couple who are Maddie's only friends that encourage her to answer the ad listing.
• Toplessness from the Back: When Maddie undresses to go skinny-dipping with Percy. Unlike how this trope is usually deployed, as PG-13 Fanservice, here it is used to subvert audience expectations, so the audience is surprised a couple of minutes later when Maddie comes out of the ocean stark naked for her Full-Frontal Assault.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Maddie starts out as a rather selfish and lazy person, but she becomes nicer over the course of the film as she starts to develop feelings for Percy and patches things up with the people she's wronged.
• Too Much Information: Alison has to ask Laird to stop when he starts going into unnecessary detail about his sexual experience with his first girlfriend.
• Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Maddie is a selfish slacker who abandons her past lovers to avoid getting attached, and her main goal is to trick a college-bound boy into sleeping with her so she can earn a car from his rich parents.
• Villainous Gentrification: Maddie's predicament is caused by the large numbers of rich people moving to Montauk and driving real estate prices so high that she can't afford the property taxes on her house. Her two best friends are considering moving to Florida because they can't afford their own place where they grew up either.
• Was It All a Lie?: When Percy confronts Maddie after discovering that his parents hired her, he asks: "Was any of it real?"
• Wild Teen Party: Subverted. Much to Maddie's annoyance, the party Percy and Maddie end up in is actually kind of subdued, nobody is having sex in the rooms upstairs, and the parents of the kid throwing the party are in the house chaperoning it.
• Wrestler in All of Us: Maddie pulls of an impressive suplex when fighting the teens who steal her clothes while she's skinny dipping.
• You Need to Get Laid: Percy's parents Laird and Alison believe he needs to get a girlfriend and have sex to get him out of his shell, pointing out that Laird was very similar at his age.

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