Jennifer Lawrence brought her comedic chops to Las Vegas Monday evening, as the Oscar-winner attended CinemaCon to promote the raunchy R-rated comedy “No Hard Feelings.” The footage played to huge laughs at the annual movie theater trade show, currently unfolding at Caesars Palace.
Director Gene Stupnitsky praised Lawrence as “a true comedy natural.” He says the film is about two helicopter parents who hire a woman to “date” their introverted 19-year-old son so he doesn’t leave for college as a virgin.
“And this is based on your life, right?” Lawrence jabbed at Stupnitsky, who retorted, “No, it’s actually based off a Craigslist ad.”
She tried again. “But you were a virgin for, like, a crazy long time. You were 26?”
The filmmaker sighed before rolling an extended clip from the trailer. “Jennifer, you’re so hilarious. I wrote this part for you.”
Lawrence stars in “No Hard Feelings” as an Uber driver named Maddie Barker, who is forced to resort to desperate measures after her car is repossessed. She accepts an unusual Craigslist posting, where her new employers are the wealthy parents of an academically gifted but socially clueless teenage boy named Percy. He’s not interested in human interaction, much less a relationship. In exchange for a new ride, Maddie agrees to seduce and date their son to bring him out of his shell before he goes to college.
In the sequence that played exclusively at CinemaCon, Maddie wears a tight pink minidress and heels as she attempts to adopt a dog from the shelter where Percy works. One of the canines was a former police pup who was forced into retirement because he got addicted to cocaine.
“I wish I could adopt them all,” she tells him. “Which is the most fucked up?”
Later, after her numerous attempts at flirting go undetected, Maddie insists on driving Percy home in her unmarked van as Billy Squire’s “The Stroke” plays over the radio. “You know what this song always makes me think about?” she asks. “Stroking.” The scene, which cracked up the crowd of theater owners at Caesars Palace, ends with him dousing her in pepper spray.
Stupnitsky directed “No Hard Feelings,” having previously helmed 2019’s R-rated comedy “Good Boys,” starring Jacob Tremblay. The cast also includes Matthew Broderick, Laura Benanti and Natalie Morales.
“No Hard Feelings” is set to release in theaters on June 23.
Sony brought a wide range of movies to CinemaCon, including the GameStop stocks feature “Dumb Money,” starring Seth Rogen and Paul Dano; Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Marvel antihero adventure “Kraven the Hunter”; and Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s action sequel “Bad Boys 4.”
During Monday night’s presentation, Sony’s motion picture group president Tom Rothman praised the theatrical experience. “As the punditocracy pissed on your business, we, at Sony, held fast. We were sure that movie theaters would not just survive — but triumph.”
