No Hard Feelings: Does Andrew Barth Feldman Regret Choosing J.Law Over Harvard?
If you had to choose between starring in a raunchy romantic comedy with Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence or start your freshman year at Harvard University, which one would feel like the obvious choice? To Andrew Barth Feldman, the answer was "star in a movie with J.Law" — no question.
When Feldman, who stars alongside Lawrence in "No Hard Feelings," was asked if he stands by his decision to put Harvard off for a year, he was unequivocal. "Of course," Feldman told Entertainment Tonight. "Harvard is still there. I can go back, but this movie was once in a lifetime."
"This is an industry I care so much about; this is a movie I care so much about, and from her, I learned how to be kind and do all of this," the young actor continued. "How to do all of this and keep a head on my shoulders. Let the, you know, the Jennifer Lawrence of it all — she lets it fade into the background so much. She's a person first, she's a mother first, she's a friend first and that was a huge, huge thing to learn."
Feldman isn't brand new to performing — he's a Broadway veteran who stepped into Ben Platt's shoes to play the lead in "Dear Evan Hansen" — but as he notes, he was new to the process of a big studio movie, and Lawrence helped him navigate that craziness too. "I think getting a stylist and a publicist and all these things I have no idea how to do," Feldman said. "We just did a whole press tour together. I learned everything from her. She's amazing."
Jennifer Lawrence couldn't imagine anybody else playing Percy
Lawrence, for her part, put up a real fight when she found out that Feldman was supposed to head off to college and may not be able to do the movie. The Oscar winner also spoke to Entertainment Tonight about Feldman's role as Percy, and basically said that she stepped in and personally talked to him to make sure he'd star alongside her in "No Hard Feelings."
"I mean, when Andrew left his audition, the door closed and we all looked at each other and we were like, 'That's our — that's Percy,' and then they were like there's one complication, he's supposed to go to Harvard, and we were like, 'Is that a joke?'" Lawrence recalled. "He was fully the character, so I called him and said, 'Andrew, I have really bad news you're not gonna be able to finish your semester at Harvard,'" she continued. "He's gonna have to defer, or whatever college school words are."
Obviously, Lawrence got her way, and now, Feldman is the face of a major studio comedy alongside one of the most celebrated young actors of his generation. So how did the movie fare with critics and at the box office?
No Hard Feelings drew mixed reviews from critics
To be perfectly clear, Feldman only deferred from Harvard and is still set to attend, but was "No Hard Feelings" worth it? Overall, yes; the film's reviews were mixed, but it drew $15 million at the box office and came in fourth behind "The Flash," marking a decent first weekend for an R-rated studio comedy.
Some critics, like The Atlantic's Shirley Li, liked the movie, writing, "Thank goodness for 'No Hard Feelings,' in which Lawrence looks like she's having the most fun she's ever had on-screen, finally releasing the pent-up screwball energy she's never been able to fully channel into her characters before." Bilge Ebiri at Vulture agreed, saying, "For all its breeziness, No Hard Feelings stays with you because its central dynamic feels so surprisingly honest." Other critics, though, weren't on the same page; David Fear at Rolling Stone declared, "Not even J-Law off the nice-young-lady leash can save something this lazy and desperate to offend, however. The movie simply isn't on her level. Or really much of any level at all." Variety's Owen Gleiberman was slightly nicer: "Somehow... it doesn't come to much. The script of 'No Hard Feelings' creates its own safe space, designed to do little more than let Maddie and Percy form a friendship in which they Help Each Other Grow."
"No Hard Feelings" is in theaters now.