Jennifer Lawrence’s R-Rated Romp Hits HBO Max Soon

Jennifer Lawrence's raunchy comedy from 2023, 'No Hard Feelings,' is finally heading to HBO Max this spring. If you somehow missed it in theaters—or just want to see Lawrence tackle one of her most outlandish roles—set your calendar for April 21, 2026.

What makes this one so weird?

Here’s the premise: Lawrence plays Maddie, a 32-year-old Uber driver (who’s also perpetually one parking ticket away from financial collapse) who lands a Craigslist gig that feels straight out of a bad joke. Two absurdly wealthy parents want to hire someone—specifically her—to 'date' their hopelessly shy 19-year-old son, Percy, before he leaves for college. The idea? That Maddie will help ease Percy out of his shell before he gets tossed into the social deep end at Princeton. No, you didn't read that wrong.

What follows is a mix of cringe-worthy seduction attempts, accidental nudity, and (because this is a studio comedy) a roundabout path to an actual emotional connection between Maddie and Percy. I'll let you decide if the heartwarming payoff makes up for the premise, but there’s no shortage of awkward laughs along the way.

How did this even get made?

Here’s where things get almost as entertaining as the movie itself: The story was inspired by an actual Craigslist ad. Producers Marc Provissiero and Naomi Odenkirk stumbled on the listing, and thought it begged for a screen treatment. Director Gene Stupnitsky recalled,

'I thought, Oh, that’ll be a great role for my friend Jennifer Lawrence.'

They’d never actually worked together (surprisingly), but they had dinner, Stupnitsky pitched the idea, and Lawrence immediately wanted in. Not only did she sign on to star, but she also co-produced through her company, Excellent Cadaver. Obviously, Hollywood noticed—there was an all-out bidding war for the script, with Sony ultimately beating out Apple, Netflix, and the rest.

The cast and crew rundown

• Jennifer Lawrence as Maddie (the would-be cougar with a heart... and a car in repo)
• Andrew Barth Feldman as Percy (the ultra-worried, emotionally stunted teen)
• Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti as Percy’s parents, Laird and Allison
• Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Gary
• Hasan Minhaj as Doug
• Gene Stupnitsky (directs, also co-wrote the script with John Phillips)

How did it do?

'No Hard Feelings' hit theaters in June 2023 through Sony. Reviews were actually pretty decent for an R-rated comedy with this kind of wild premise—it’s got a 71% critics score and an even higher 86% audience score over on Rotten Tomatoes. At the box office, it pulled in a solid $87.2 million globally. Not a blockbuster, but not bad for a movie that, on paper, sounds like the world’s weirdest Craigslist scam come to life.

Bottom line: Jennifer Lawrence gets to be both shameless and likable, the supporting cast is stacked, and the set-up is so odd it's worth a look even if you wind up cringing half the time.