The first two acts of No Hard Feelings are so (inappropriately) funny, I thought I was going to give this flick a surprisingly high score. But the third act was such a startling belly flop, it dropped precariously. Still giving it a good review though… but what a disappointment.

The flick is about a struggling thirty-something played by Jennifer Lawrence who, in order to save her house, takes the job of “dating” a shy and awkward nineteen year old at the behest of his rich helicopter parents. Yes, dating is in quotes for a reason. Wink wink nudge nudge.

The flick has a certain awkward factor but it’s a raunchy sex comedy and I’ve seen worse. It helps that it is sometime gut-bustingly funny in its physical comedy, dialog, and, yes, its raunch. Jennifer Lawrence has a gift for physical comedy and timing and she makes this wild film hilarious. At least for the first two acts.

There’s an emotional core to it and Lawrence and her co-star Andrew Barth Feldman create well-rounded, somewhat surprising characters. At first, Feldman feels like a bundle of nerd clichés but they slowly peel away enough layers to understand and appreciate why he’s such a mess. And Lawrence puts her all into the comedy but also the sadness and desperation of her character.

The film also has two great uses of the song Maneater by Hall & Oats (a song I haven’t thought about in over a decade). The first sequence goes for eye-popping wild abandon while the second is genuinely touching and lyrical. Great choice of song… and a better title for the movie.

But it’s a rom-com in the long run and the truth must come out in a scene you’ve seen a dozen times before. And then the movie… struggles to figure out what it wants to do next. It becomes awkward and unfocused like it doesn’t know what to do with its hands. It wants to be earnest and emotional while also struggling to be funny. But it flails between the two extremes and grinds to a halt.

But the first two acts are still laugh-out-loud funny and I appreciate the effort put into making the characters feel like rounded humans. Even in the last act, at least they are trying to finish a complete character arc even if the writing and direction don’t seem to know what to do or where to go next.

Score: 86