Matt at the Movies: Are Adult Comedies Dead?

"No Hard Feelings" with Jennifer Lawrence is one of the few R-rated comedies in wide release this year

Are Adult Comedies Dead?

Last weekend, the mobile app for my closest theater presented a nightmare scenario.

Under “Now Playing” was:

• The seventh installment of films based on a toy;

• Two superhero movies;

• A live action Disney remake;

• and a new Pixar movie with a terribly low ceiling.

The non-franchise blockbusters are a few weeks away and I found myself in an adult viewing desert. As I expanded my search to include other theatres, I saw a special early screening of a new comedy starring Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence titled “No Hard Feelings.”

Could it be…? An adult oriented rated R comedy with a Hollywood star that actually looks, dare I say, good? 

All art is subjective, but comedy is the great divider. In the last ten years, viewing patterns have changed so much - along with comedic sensibilities - that it seems impossible to create a real mainstream comedy juggernaut at the box office. Any high grossing movie has comedy elements but it is combined into the superhero (Deadpool), animation (Minions), action (Bad Boys), horror (M3gan), or musical (Pitch Perfect) genres.

One has to go back to 2017’s “Girls Trip” to find an R rated adult comedy that made a dent in the domestic box office results ($115,200,000). So where did all the ha-ha go?

Conversely, you could make the argument comedy is more prevalent than ever in 2023. Touring comedians sell out major theaters like Ovens Auditorium and Knight Theater on the regular. Comedy podcasts litter the top 50 domestic charts and perform live shows all over the country. Comics seem to live within their own self-built fan base fiefdoms that are free from cancel-culture and allow them to explore any topic they choose. In a mainstream setting, most of these performers would be restrained by corporate sponsors from talking about social taboos, removing a core tenet of comedy.

In the past month, top touring comedians Sebastian Maniscalco and Bert Kreischer each had major releases that barely cracked ten million in receipts. So why would today’s take the risk of leaving money on the table to venture out to Hollywood when they can safely make a great living in their own personal empires?

Gone are the days of crossover stars like Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Will Ferrell, or Kevin Hart who could headline the top film at the box office for weeks. Raunchy teen comedies don’t seem to appeal to teens anymore, and the genre is so niche that a joke one person finds hilarious could be offensive to another.

Streamers took away the heavy lifting from major studios and put comedic actors and writers to work making great (and not so great) series. For every beloved mainstream streamer-produced film like Palm Springs, there are ten films to fill every demographic or genre imaginable to draw in higher subscription numbers often to awful critical reception. There is a major disconnect as to what constitutes humor in the public discourse.

So when will we break out of this film purgatory to get some adult-oriented comedies that tackles today's changing audience and puts butts in seats?

The good news is I’ve seen a comedy heartbeat over the past year. “Polite Society,” which played at the Independent Picture House (and is now streaming on Peacock), showed a British Indian family whose upcoming wedding was tearing apart two sisters. “Bodies, Bodies, Bodies” was a ridiculous “who done it” Gen Z suspense comedy about college friends stuck in a remote mansion during a hurricane. Lastly, the Oscar nominated “Triangle of Sadness” was a great satire of modern vanity and capitalism. However, none of these had over the top belly laughs or the re-watchability that the true classics manifest. The search continues.

In the next two months there will be three new adult R-rated comedies coming out that along with “No Hard Feelings” should provide wild date nights, plenty of laughs, and faith that adult comedies still have a place in Hollywood.

On July 7th, “Joy Ride” features an Asian cast that travels abroad and encounters a number of ridiculous and raunchy situations. August 18th has Wesley Snipes creating his own “Magic Mike” exotic dance troupe in “Back on the Strip.” Finally on August 25th, “Bottoms,” which I can only describe as a mashup of “Fight Club” and “Not Another Teen Movie” hits theaters.

While there is hope that these can live up to their trailers, they will be hard-pressed to match the quality of today's reviewed film.

No Hard Feelings - 8/10

(Courtesy of Sony Pictures)

In a Nutshell

Maddie is an Uber driver without a car who is about to lose her family house in the sleepy beach town of Montauk, Long Island. Wealthy helicopter parents want to bring their nineteen-year-old son Percy out of his shell before he heads off to Princeton in the fall. Let’s make a deal.

Time is Money, Why Should I Go?

I had low expectations after reading the synopsis and felt like this was going to be another comedy where all the fun was ruined by the trailer.

I could not have been more wrong.

This flick was a mixture of belly laughs, raunchiness, and sweetness that made it the best R-rated comedy I’ve seen since Palm Springs in 2020.

Spill the Tea

Montauk townie Maddie is a thirty-two-year-old with minimal prospects and even more questionable morals. Her inherited beach house has a lien from failure to pay property taxes and her main source of income, her car, is being repoed. Out of options and determined to hold onto her family heirloom she finds an online ad from local wealthy residents who are offering a Buick Regal for a young ladies' particular set of services.

The catch is they have to “date” (take that how you will) their nineteen-year-old son Percy to have him gain life experience outside of his secluded bedroom and online communities.

This set of helicopter parents, played wonderfully by Matthew Broderick and Laura Benati, are desperate and can even look past the age gap in order to get Percy into the real world before heading off to Princeton in the fall. Every day wasted is another not making money from the summer season vacationers, so Maddie puts the hard press on virgin Percy.

However, Percy is no pushover and it’ll take a lot more than skinny dipping and Long Island Iced Teas to make him open up.

As the story and hijinx progress, the film's writer/director Gene Stupnitsky (previously of “Good Boys”) takes aim at various societal topics ranging from income inequality to Gen Z’s inability to just have fun. The script has a “South Park” nature to it; no group is free from being called out, which felt refreshing from a mainstream release. While there are over-the-top scenes and bawdy behavior throughout, the movie still manages to maintain an underlying sweetness similar to “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.” I’m not sure if this will make a killing at the box office, but it certainly will be a rewatchable film for years to come. 

Star of the Show

It seems hard to believe, but this year marks a decade since Jennifer Lawrence won her best actress Oscar for “Silver Linings Playbook.” In the years that followed she worked on some blockbuster IP projects, award bait roles, and mixed in a few ill-received commercial bombs. She seemingly took a break from Hollywood and lived her A-list life while still managing to be as charming as ever from this clip as guest host on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” She’s always come off as funny, down to earth, and able to be in on the joke. After giving birth to her son Cy last year she finally decided to go for a full-on comedy (Don’t Look Up notwithstanding).

She absolutely steals the show as a desperate loser millennial with commitment issues. Her banter with her best friends, rich townsfolk, Percy’s parents, ex-boyfriends, and ultimately Percy himself become the cornerstone of the movie. Her ability to deliver various jokes, physical comedy, and energy made the runtime breeze by. Anytime you thought the film would go off the rails, Lawrence was able to reign it in to keep the audience engaged. I haven't seen an Oscar winning actress be able to pull off the lead in a comedic role to this degree since Charlize Theron in 2019’s Longshot (a personal favorite of mine).

While I’m sure she will lend her talents to drama again, J-Law still has the chops and charm for comedies.

Don’t Sleep On

The straight man to Jennifer Lawrence’s Maddie is twenty-one year old Andrew Barth Feldman as Percy. His main work has been in TV musicals and Broadway-esque productions, and he showcases that experience in this film. He provides a great counterbalance to the manic energy of Lawrence. He has wonderful timing and reactions to the often insane situations he’s being put in. There are two to three scenes where he had me laughing out loud at the screening.

Best Ten-Minute Stretch

When Maddie and Percy go out on their first date to a local dive bar you can’t help but laugh at the naïvety of young Percy. One-liners, ex-boyfriend drop-ins, and hilarious exchanges happen throughout the night as Maddie tries to close the deal. They end up on the beach after hours where Percy is “voluntold” to go skinny dipping with her. Let’s just say the next few minutes had me thinking of Viggo Mortensen in a Russian bath house from “Eastern Promises.”

Stay Away If

Films like The Graduate or The Reader give you anxiety from the questionable moral complications.

Coulda used a little more…

time with Maddie’s best friends Jim and Sara who provide hysterical banter with each other and Maddie throughout the film.

MatM Score: Highly Recommend - 8/10

My favorite comedy in the last two years!

Breakdown

Pieces together the overall “vibe” this movie brings from other releases.