Minor spoilers of No Hard Feelings are ahead. If you haven't seen this 2023 movie schedule entry, you can watch it in theaters now.
One of the best qualities about Jennifer Lawrence that I’ve noticed watching her interviews is how chill and humble she seems. One of the many awesome reasons to love this JLaw, as her Hunger Games co-star Woody Harrelson put it, is that “she’s the real deal,” and she's not trying to be someone she’s not when the cameras are off. Even when a scene is likely awkward to film, she seems like a blast to be around, and she appeared to prove that on the set of No Hard Feelings. This is because as they were filming the nude scenes in the movie, the Oscar winner was apparently hanging out and eating grilled cheese between shots, which sounds delightful.
In the raunchy comedy, Jennifer Lawrence’s character Maddie tries to seduce 19-year-old Percy in many ways so she can secure a car from his parents. This included convincing him to skinny-dip with her at the beach. Unfortunately, those plans go awry when teens try to steal their clothes. However, that doesn’t stop the shameless Maddie from taking back what’s hers even if she's in the nude. One person who was very impressed with the actress was her No Hard Feelings co-star, Laura Benanti, who spoke to Variety about the 32-year-old star's grilled cheese snacking in between said nude scenes:
She’s hilarious and she’s a Dior model who is like a full dummy in the best possible way. During a break, she’d be like, ‘I’m going to get grilled cheese. You want one?’ I was like, ‘If that’s how you look by eating grilled cheese, yes, I’ll [have] some, please.’
Now, this makes me hungry for grilled cheese. Also, it proves again just how great Jennifer Lawrence is.
While the scene itself was shocking, I'm not all that surprised by how comfortable Lawrence apparently was on set. The first time she bared all for a movie was in the thriller Red Sparrow in which she felt quickly at ease being nude and, again, munching on food with the robe off. After being fully clothed in all her projects for the first 12 years of her career, The Hunger Games star decided to go nude for the espionage thriller as she felt it was her choice to do so, giving her a feeling of empowerment.
No Hard Feelings is a completely different project thought, and Laura Benanti has spoken before about the icky premise of the sex comedy film, and how it’s a satire about how far parents will go to ensure their children are happy. By putting out a personal ad on Craig’s List to get their 19-year-old to come out of his shell, Benanti's character may think she's giving her kid freedom when it’s more like she and her husband are still controlling their child’s life. If you can believe it, the plot of the movie actually came from a real-life Craig’s List ad found by the film’s director, Gene Stupnitsky, of a very similar situation. Sometimes, the bizarreness that comes from real life can truly make an entertaining film premise. However, the film is hysterical and has a big heart.
As for how critics felt about Jennifer Lawrence’s R-rated comedy, they all said the same thing that the Silver Linings Playbook star is the one who held the movie together. Her comedic timing and natural talent were what made her perfect for the role. We’ve seen Lawrence handle funny moments in Silver Linings Playbook and Don’t Look Up, but her sense of humor truly shines in the raunchy film. As the versatile actress got her start in the sitcom The Bill Engvall Show, it’s nice to see her comedy roots come into play on the big screen. Hopefully, she’ll continue to make us laugh again in future film roles.
Only a down-to-earth star like Jennifer Lawrence can make eating grilled cheese in the nude sound like a real delight. If you’d like to see the action heroine take on her first comedic big-screen role, you can watch No Hard Feelings in theaters now.
