Le Challenge

C'est un miracle de tomber sur une comédie américaine qui n'est pas pleine de clichés, de prévisibilité, d'applaudissements et de fins totalement attendues et mille fois ressassées ! Le Challenge apparaît comme une révélation et il est dominé par Jennifer Lawrence, qui utilise pleinement son potentiel comique. Après l'énorme déception de La Vie aquatique, ce film apporte une dose suffisante de comique pour une soirée cinéma. (04/02/2024)

A one woman show in the form of Jennifer Lawrence. She is the main, and in fact overwhelmingly the only reason to watch this post-pubescent romp. The allusions to problematic adult life, the rich Hamptons, social networking and gender issues are fine, there's a reasonable amount of jokes and most of it is passable, but were there another actress in the role of Maddie, I'm afraid it wouldn't be nearly the same. (16/10/2023)

Thirty-something Maddie needs money, so she responds to a shady ad. She's supposed to pick up 19-year-old Percy and show him what life is like outside the walls of his room – sex, booze, parties, trouble. That’s no problem for Maddie, but when she finds out her client is actually a pretty nice guy who just has a lot of problems, she starts to take her job a little more seriously. Also because she's got a messed up life herself, and this unexpected friendship might help her straighten it out a bit. No Hard Feelings may come across as an R-rated raunchy comedy, but while there are a few edgier jokes, it's actually a pleasant and unexpectedly sensitive show with perfect performances about how it's never too late to start getting your own life together. (22/06/2023)

A very pleasant feel-good genre film, the kind of which not many are made nowadays. Gene Stupnitsky cracked me up with the comedy Good Boys, which I've seen five times and I rank it among the best of recent years – it nicely capitalizes on the innocence of kids dealing with adult stuff. He tries to take a somewhat similar approach here, capitalizing on the innocence of an inexperienced boy who is afraid of almost everything, women in particular. While it's not such a ride packed with gags and situational humor, relying more on great chemistry and surprisingly workable relationship drama, I liked Stupnitsky in that position as well. Jennifer Lawrence is excellent here, not only does she give a great performance, but she's properly HOT, and I didn’t expect her to show up full frontal naked. The unknown Andrew Barth Feldman plays the inexperienced virgin in a great and believable way as well, and I liked his gradual transformation. The scene where Feldman plays the piano in the restaurant also has a strong poignant charm. The first half is funnier, the second half is more of a drama, but it's a really enjoyable and good movie where I wasn't bored for a moment. A pleasant surprise 75% (22/06/2023)

The plot unfortunately isn't presented in a believable way and the film also has one of the most unnecessary nude scenes in cinema history, but all in all it wasn't bad. Mainly due to the pretty good chemistry between Jennifer Lawrence and Andrew Barth Feldman, as there is certainly no question of the script being engaging or original. (13/01/2024)