No Hard Feelings
A Modern Take on a Classic Formula
The Theatrical Experience:
On Tuesday, I saw No Hard Feelings, Jennifer Lawrence’s new raunchy teen(ish) coming-of-age comedy, at the historic Esquire Theater in St. Louis, Missouri. I added “historic” so don’t expect to find it in a preserved building registry. But, it is a historic building. It is one of the oldest movie theaters in the Midwest (no citation), and it opened during the Great Depression.
Nestled on the border between St. Louis City and County, the Esquire is a well-known local landmark mostly due to its location. I always know the grocery store is a turn away when the Esquire marquee appears. I added a picture of the main theater below. AMC bought it years ago and gave it a corporate makeover in 2014. That kind of ruined any charm the theater had. But anyway, that’s where I saw No Hard Feelings.
CineVibez HQ Presents: Steals and Deals
Welcome to a new CineVibez HQ segment on steals and deals. I got the tickets to No Hard Feelings for free using a website called Advanced Screening. This site compiles all the giveaways and contests for free advance screenings of movies and places them on one, somewhat easy-to-use website. I’ve seen at least 4-5 movies this way without paying a dime. It works.
If you think this is a paid advertisement, well, I wish you were right. I will litter this page with banners and pop-ups if given the chance. But nobody knows or cares about it, so I need to pretend to have ads. But there’s a silver lining: now, it’s really easy to get free tickets to advance showings (did I just save you the cost of a year’s subscription to CineVibez HQ in movie theater tickets? - wow, good thing you’re a subscriber who can read beyond the paywall)
I also noticed that films brought to advance or test screenings are occasionally incompatible with the theater’s capabilities. Sony hosted this screening, and the reps had to shut the movie down 5 minutes in to fix the picture and sound. Initially, the picture was extremely dark. The sound was only coming from two speakers. But after 15 minutes, the reps put the movie back on the screen with proper lighting and sound. I feel like this is an underreported problem with an easy fix.
The Elevated Genre:
Before getting to the review, I want to discuss the phrase “elevated genre films.” Modern films are often described as “elevated” versions of genres of old. I see it most frequently used with modern horror films (or anything Ari Aster directs), but I suspect we will soon hear about “elevated comedies.” If I’m right, we should define what “elevated” means here.
There are a few pretentious articles on “eleVVated horror” that really just talk about a movie I hint at in this sentence. Those articles seem to just attach “elevated” to a movie they subjectively consider “smart.” That’s not very helpful, so I looked a little deeper. Daniel Manus, at a website as real as mine titled NoBullScript, distinguishes an elevated script from a typical genre script by arguing that an elevated script means there’s something more “intelligent, complex, and involved than your typical genre film.” That is such a low bar for the word “elevated.”
Instead, we should define elevated genre films as films that intentionally avoid reliance on old, stale tropes in favor of a more subtle narrative. Another simpler way to put it is to say an elevated script should intentionally avoid reliance on known genre tropes. Using Ari Aster again, Hereditary has only a handful of jump scares, but the scares used aren’t really there to create cheap fear and tension. In fact, some may argue that his jump scares relieve tension already created by the atmosphere.
But the point is that there are very few jump scares. Aster chose to create a terrifying and disturbing atmosphere that permeates the whole film, but that atmosphere is narratively driven by the details about the Graham family’s history. The way details trickle out over time really elevates the script.
J. Gideon Sarantinos at ScriptFirm suggests combining two genres, “hooks,” or including a clever twist to elevate a genre. That’s a little more objective, but I thought that was how we’re overusing “elevated” to describe a plot. For example, reliance on Sarantino’s definition would force us to add Chris McCay’s Renfield to the elevated horror genre - something I cannot and will not do.
No Hard Feelings Review:
That brings us to the movie of the hour, No Hard Feelings. Elevated comedies are coming. No Hard Feelings is just easing us into the idea. Next up, we’ve got Bottoms and Drive Away Dolls. Kristen Stewart’s untitled (and unwritten?) lesbian stoner comedy is coming down the pipeline, too.
No Hard Feelings is a great introduction to elevated comedy. On the surface, it’s an average, yet well-written, teen comedy with plenty of big laughs. The general premise is that Maddie Barker needs a car to pay off the estate taxes on her mom’s house (she’s a Door Dasher). She finds an opportunity in a Craigslist ad by two helicopter parents looking for someone to date their socially awkward son played by Andrew Barth. This film has all the typical tropes in a raunchy teen comedy: skinny dipping, slapstick, nudity, gross-out humor, a teen house party, and more. The film excels at “elevating” the tired tropes with new twists or unexpected punchlines.
I’ll give an example. Throughout the movie, Jennifer Lawrence’s technical skills in slapstick comedy rival Jim Carrey’s abilities. But one scene in particular - a nude fight scene on the beach - epitomizes our definition of elevated comedy. Sure, this teen comedy has a nude scene, but it’s not filmed to gratify horny teens. Instead, Lawrence - the typical object of the audience’s lust - kicks the asses of everyone invading her private moment.
Barth is excellently cast as Percy, the nerdy “teen” who is actually 19 and starting his freshman year at Princeton. His performance has a very subtle brilliance that supports labeling this film as an elevated comedy. Usually, the nerdy teen is a sweet, misunderstood kid who just needs a little love. But here, it’s a little more true to life. Someone bullied and treated differently his whole life will have some demons. We see those demons in a few scenes, especially when Percy confronts Maddie about the Craigslist ad. Director Gene Stupnitsky deserves credit for this as well because he allowed Barth to be an asshole.
Riding high off Jury Duty, Stupnitsky gives us one of his smartest comedies in a while. You certainly see elements of Hello Ladies, Good Boys, and Bad Teacher here, but this film has something more. It’s smart and original. No Hard Feelings is a great example of a director advancing his craft forward. It’s also really funny. You have many great options at the theater this weekend, but give No Hard Feelings a chance.
Speaking of this weekend, I saw Asteroid City last night, and it is one of Wes Anderson’s best films. And I’m looking forward to seeing Past Lives tomorrow. Keep your eyes peeled on this page if you want to know what I thought about both movies.