If you really think about it, Jennifer Lawrence was always the perfect candidate for a raunchy R-rated comedy. An interview darling early in her stardom for her blunt, foul mouth, before that mouth turned against her, the actress may have just needed comedy as an outlet for her phenomenal talent. Her most recent turn in director Gene Stupnitsky’s No Hard Feelings feels perhaps like a strange career trajectory, but makes total sense on paper.

Similar to rom-com classics like When Harry Met Sally and Annie Hall, No Hard Feelings lets the comedy come naturally instead of flooding the audience with a barrage of jokes as most modern examples do. It’s ballsy enough to let us know it’s not going to play it safe, but never in a way that tries to shock the audience for shock’s sake.

The story follows Lawrence as Maddie Baker, a 30-something gig worker struggling to pay property taxes after rich people start moving into her East Hampton town, thus driving up the cost of everything. She finds an ad online for a wealthy couple willing to give their car to a young woman willing to date their 19-year-old son Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman) and get him out of his hermit lifestyle.

Maddie and Percy struggle to hit it off, with Percy even resorting to pepper spray after he thinks she’s coming off too aggressively. However, soon enough the two of them seem to fall for one another. But Maddie still possesses this overhanging secrecy to her initial intentions. Luckily, Stupnitsky eases into this drop and handles the inevitable with as much grace as possible without giving into unnecessary drama. You really feel for both of the characters and their situation. It helps that the performances here are brilliant.

A good comedy needs a great actor, and Lawrence is exactly that in any role. However, she’s met with a worthy counterpoint in Feldman, who handles his Michael Cera-like awkwardness as though he’s a subject in a documentary but then is totally believable when he comes out of his shell. Lawrence and Feldman have phenomenal chemistry and we want to see them together in the end, but unfortunately, Stupnitsky (who also co-writes with John Phillips) ultimately just wants them to grow stronger as friends.

No Hard Feelings fumbles its third act a lot, with payoffs that don’t quite meet the audience where they want or expect them to. Even if Stupnitsky doesn’t view this movie as a romantic comedy, we still do. Because friendship is not enough of a motive to put our characters on tilt, it’s never enough to propel the audience’s emotions either. Even the gravity of the narrative feels out of whack as the director aims to get us to his own desired conclusion rather than the one that’s trying to will itself into existence by the film itself.

Another element that’s rare in comedies is its cinematography. Having a heck of a year with this and awards season darling The Holdovers, Eigil Bryld simply knows how to manipulate the beauty of his subjects. Lawrence never looked better, and as Feldman’s character gets more confident throughout the movie, his depiction improves within the frame and he begins to look more attractive.

Aside from throwing in some subtle commentary on the housing market and the struggles required to adapt to our gig economy, No Hard Feelings feels a lot like an ‘80s film in tone, be it something as refined as 1983’s Class or as raunchy as 1984’s Hot Moves. Unfortunately, it won’t reach the same level as even the more obscure comedy classics thanks to its misguided finale, but I can see appreciation growing for this quiet gem, as well as for its two stars.

Twizard Rating: 90