Jennifer Lawrence goes full-send comedy in No Hard Feelings, playing Maddie — a broke Montauk local hired by uptight parents to “de-awkward” their 19-year-old son before college. The setup’s spicy, the execution’s funnier than it has any right to be, and yes, we talk about that beach fight.
What we dig into
- J-Law in chaos mode: fearless physical comedy, tight timing, and why this role works because it’s her.
- Awkward vs. raunchy: does the film land its sweet/icky tightrope walk?
- Age-gap discourse without the sermon: how the script dodges creepiness and pivots to loneliness, class, and late adolescence.
- Set-pieces that actually bang: the piano “Maneater” scene, the “prom do-over,” the Buick-from-hell, and the naked beach mayhem.
- Montauk & money: gentrification, property taxes, and the gig-economy grind baked into the jokes.
- Verdict: better than its schlocky premise suggests — and a reminder Lawrence is funny on purpose.
This week’s Top 5: BREAKS
We stretch “breaks” until it snaps:
- Title breaks: Point Break, obviously.
- Bone/ballistic breaks: Chan, Cruise, Wick… and the arm-wrestle in The Fly.
- Wind breaks: Blazing Saddles, Swiss Army Man, Dumb & Dumber (bring your nose pegs).
- Fourth-wall breaks: Ferris Bueller, Deadpool, Wayne’s World.
- Breakfasts & breakdowns: from Groundhog Day to Uncle Buck pancakes and the cinematic “dad’s late for work” trope.
- Breakdancing: Breakin’ and the all-timer subtitle, Electric Boogaloo.
- Prison breaks: Shawshank, Escape from Alcatraz, The Great Escape.
The chaotic quiz (because of course)
A rapid-fire “Breakdown” quiz that swerves mid-question — Kurt Russell lore, movies with bridges, snacks on road trips, and one wildly specific license-plate memory test. It almost doesn’t work. That’s the point.
Listener shout-outs
Feedback on our Top 5 Copies episode (clones, doubles, and Single White Female trauma) plus a few deep-cut recs from the Bad Dads community. We read ’em, we roast ’em, we add ’em.
Content note: We swear. A lot. If you’re new here, consider this your friendly heads-up.
🎧 Hit play: Honest, unfiltered, pub-chat film talk with actual laughs. If you like smart takes delivered stupidly (and vice versa), you’re our people.
We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com.
Until next time, we remain...
Bad Dads
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