REVIEW:
As far as romantic comedies go, you could definitely do a lot worse. This Jennifer Lawrence vehicle has a plot that we haven’t exactly seen before. Helicopter parents hire a woman to date and have sex with their son. Pretty unusual. Now, the direction the movie goes in does fall into familiar territory, of course. Any movie where there’s s secret to how two people met, where one of them doesn’t know the secret, is going to end with the secret coming out. It always does. But watching J Law date this incredibly awkward guy and try to get him out of his shell is actually kind of fun.
The movie flies high with comedy when it gives social commentary on where we are with things today. A party scene, where our protagonist is considered a bully and filmed by a younger generation of students who pull out their phones and start recording her to shame her for “name calling,” is a particular highlight. But the movie mainly works because of Lawrence herself, who is willing to put herself out there, look goofy, and have fun doing it. This actress has a lot of personality. It’s something she’s always had (Winter’s Bone, Silver Linings Playbook,) but only gotten better at demonstrating over the years. The movie isn’t great, and it definitely deflates toward the end, but it deserves credit for a premise we haven’t really seen before, and some nice dedication to this plot, following it through the whole way.