No Hard Feelings stars Jennifer Lawrence as Maddie Barker, a resident of Montauk at risk of losing her childhood home after failing to pay property taxes, which assessors have raised considerably in response to the influx of wealthy vacationers. The film’s inciting conflict implies a conservative truism: The power to tax is the power to destroy. After failing to pay the IRS, Maddie’s car is taken by the state as collateral, leaving her without her primary source of revenue: working as an Uber driver. What’s a young woman to do?
In a comically crude deus ex machina, Maddie stumbles upon an unconventional Craigslist offer: “Date” the wealthy Becker family’s Princeton-bound dweeb in exchange for an old Buick Regal. (There’s nothing regal about this sedan.) Maddie dolls herself up, rollerblades over to the Becker residence, and sets about seducing their 19-year-old son, Percy.
In the beginning of the film, Percy is depicted as embarrassingly naïve, gullible, and inexperienced, especially juxtaposed with the jaded, cynical, and licentious Maddie. As the movie proceeds, however, Percy’s flaws are revealed to be virtues: He is innocent, trusting, and prudent. Percy proves to be a considerate gentleman, albeit a painfully awkward one, who is interested in Maddie as a romantic partner, not merely an instrument to achieving his own erotic ends. Maddie, unaccustomed to such chivalry, is initially amused by Percy, then finds herself smitten. The pair’s blossoming romance is cut short by Percy’s discovery that his parents had contracted Maddie to “get him out of his shell.” Percy indicts all parties involved for their duplicity and rejects Maddie’s advances.
The final act shows Maddie, now with a set of wheels, picking herself up by the bootstraps, paying off her debts, and abandoning her life of one-night stands. In the end, Maddie and Percy let bygones be bygones, embrace each other as friends, and go their separate ways as responsible, independent young adults: Percy to study at Princeton and Maddie to follow her dream of surfboarding in California.
Who would have predicted that a film about a girlfriend-for-hire would advance a conservative ethos?