I’m writing this months after I saw this film, however so much of it has still stuck in my mind due to how much I enjoyed it. Also, I took notes.

I haven’t been writing these due to the dual and now singular strike against the AMPTP that has ground productions to a halt and has prevented me from writing anything about struck work. So, I thought I’d write these now and then have some ‘content’ to put out when, God willing and the creek don’t rise, the strikes end.

This movie rules.

It’s going to, or might be available from N*tflix when this review comes out, but I saw this film in the cinema, and let me tell you, it was wonderful seeing a comedy with a group of folks and getting to laugh our hineies off together. which I think really allowed me to enjoy this film even more than I would have. This is an obvious thing to say but, go see comedy and horror films in the cinema if you can, folks.

The plot goes something like this, a down-on-her-luck woman (Jennifer Lawrence) living in an ocean-side town that receives a bounty of tourists every summer is about to lose it all, including the house in which she lives that used to belong to her now-deceased mother. (lot of hyphens in that last one, huh?)

She then loses her car and sees an ad where a couple will reward someone for dating their socially awkward son with a car. She sets off to do just that.

Over the course of the film, these two people develop feelings for each other to the point where the son (Andrew Barth Feldman) considers staying in the seaside town rather than going to an Ivy League school.

This of course flares out when he figures out that Lawrence has just been using him to get a car, or so he thinks. Lawrence has genuine warm feelings for him and after the confrontation about the scheme with both the son’s parents and Jennifer Lawrence, they end the film as friends.

I’ll say this, lots of laughs! Funny movie! We haven’t had a sex comedy in ages and it’s nice to see a mid-budget film work well and do well at the box office.

There’s an amazing element to the film as well which is that of the physical performances of the two lead players. Both Lawrence and Feldman deliver such wonderful physical comedy beats. From falling down to body language to fighting naked on a beach, these people know how to use their bodies to full comedic effect.

In a particularly noteworthy scene, Lawrence beats the ever-loving daylights out of some teens fully naked. It’s a fantastic scene because at no point does the blocking or camera suggest any element of sexiness. Lawrence’s movements are angry and fierce, her eyes determined, and watching the scene play out all you can think is “Good for her.”

Despite being a sex comedy, both of the leads aren’t objectified, and on the rare occasion that they are it’s played for uncomfortable laughs and not genuine intrigue. These actors seem to have a fair amount of agency over their bodies and how we get to look at them in this film.

In another phenomenal scene, Andrew Barth Feldman plays the piano of Lawrnece in a very public setting. The acting in this scene is spectacular! Feldman and Lawrence are vulnerable and open, honest and true, all while playing and listening to a rendition of Man Eater played on a jazz piano. The scene is as moving as it is weird.

Overall, I think that this film is well worth watching if you enjoy stupid comedies and haven’t seen a good one in a minute.

The runtime is 103 minutes