HAVING been one of the last decade’s most prolific Hollywood stars, Jennifer Lawrence hasn’t half been a big screen rarity in recent years. Between 2011 and 2017, Lawrence averaged three major releases per annum. Since 2020, the one time Time 100 listed Oscar winner hasn’t even hit out one a year.

Perhaps it was the intense pressure of mega-stardom that drove Lawrence into hiatus. Maybe it was a consequence of poor role choices in the closing stretch of her proliferation. Not one of Lawrence’s final five features certified fresh on review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes, while all but two tanked at the box office. Priorities change too. Lawrence married in 2019 and gave birth only last year.

What could coax such a talent back to Tinseltown? In 2019, it was the promise of working with fellow Oscar winner Adam McKay. In 2022, the opportunity to try a hand at film production itself appealed. As for 2023’s No Hard Feelings, which hit cinemas on Wednesday, it was simply the funniest script the star had ever read.

From Good Boys director Gene Stupnitsky, who also co-wrote the Cameron Diaz comedy Bad Teacher, No Hard Feelings sees Lawrence play broke millennial Maddie Barker. An Uber driver in New York, Maddie‘s whole livelihood skids the the brink of collapse when her car is repossessed. Needless to say, it’s a tough gig to find yourself a taxi driver without wheels.

It is at this point Maddie clocks an unusual listing on US ad site Craigslist. Wanted is a young woman to date introverted - and thus far sexually disinterested - nineteen year-old Percy, who is played by Andrew Barth Feldman. It is the hope of Percy’s parents that a little late teen reckless abandon will better prepare him for life as an adult.

As sex comedy’s go, No Hard Feelings presents a mixed bag. Lawrence can’t help but be good company but the icky plot around her - just imagine the reaction were the genders reversed - proves an irresistible sticking point. It is somewhat alarming to learn that the film was inspired by an actual, real world ad, spotted by Stupnitsky on Craigslist.

While trailers promised gross-out raunch, the script in actuality appears more interested in warming the heart than burning the eyes. It’s not the funniest film you’ll ever see but you’re seen worse.