No Hard Feelings

Trailers are such a funny thing because essentially the fate of a film rests in a marketing company or department who, as is natural, don't have a complete sense of the final product as much as the actual film crew does. Their job is to market the film, not represent it. Their job is to get the most tickets sold. They either get it VERY right, or VERY wrong, or sometimes its 50/50. Knowing your audience is essential.

With this film, I was concerned thinking the comedy would be as flashy and borderline obnoxious as the vibe I was getting from the trailer. While yes, the aim here was to bring the "raunch" back to cinemas, and while those elements are there in a sense, this isn't graphic or gross or anything of the sort. The dialogue and humor is let's say "honest". But what makes it work here, and what surprised me, was its balance with a story that was, well, it's silly. But it's different enough to keep the intrigue going, so it either delivers there, or with the humor, or the surprisingly good chemistry between the two leads, the excellent casting of the male lead, Jennifer Lawrence's comedic (and acting, obviously) chops, and on and on. There are issues as well, pretty noticeable ones, but no need to dwell when this was overall a surprise in its ability to genuinely entertain and enough for me to recommend. It delivers. Nothing great, but its a fun watch.