Director: Gene Stupnitsky
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Andrew Barth Feldman, Matthew Broderick, Laura Benanti
Running Time: 103 minutes
Synopsis: In Long Island, New York, 32 year-old Maddie (Jennifer Lawrence) is a financially strapped Uber driver. After her car is repossessed, wealthy couple Allison and Laird Becker (Laura Benanti and Matthew Broderick) offer her a Buick in return for seducing their introverted 19 year-old son Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman), to help prepare him for college life. What starts out as simple assignment to go on a date and have sex becomes complicated when Maddie and Percy start to get to know each other.
What Works Well: Under the covers of a sex-as-a-transaction raunchy comedy resides a more tender story of stalled lives. Maddie is haunted by a missing father and a questionable responsibility towards her dead mom, while Percy is a victim of bullying and over-parenting. The often witty script finds the funny seams within the interactions between two warm people putting on a cold front, emboldened by Jennifer Lawrence's deft comic timing. The milieu of a working class town overrun by wealthy summer residents adds a humorous edge, augmented by the dubious dynamics between Maddie's married friends Sara and Jim, and Percy's work at a dog shelter.
What Does Not Work As Well: The mental exercise of reversing the gender roles reveals the extent of overreach within the intentionally troublesome foundational premise. Andrew Barth Feldman's young looks adds ickiness to the clandestine seduction plot mechanics, while the creakier scenes betray the limits of improvisation.
Key Quote:
Maddie (pushily pretending to be interested in adopting a dog): I want a dog right now.
Percy: Well, then, pet ownership may not be for you. You sound a lot like the kind of person we would normally take a dog from.
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