There’s a significant age gap between the main characters in No Hard Feelings, but it is key to their story. After taking a brief break, Jennifer Lawrence returned to the big screen in the Sєx comedy No Hard Feelings. Directed by Gene Stupnitsky, No Hard Feelings stars Jennifer Lawrence as Maddie Barker, an Uber driver and bartender living in Montauk, New York, who’s on the verge of bankruptcy. Meanwhile, Percy Becker (Andrew Barth Feldman) is the son of a pair of wealthy cryptocurrency investors who want him to be ready for university, as he never goes out and is inexperienced with girls.

When Maddie’s car is repossessed as she owes property taxes on the home she inherited from her mother, she comes across the Beckers’ Craigslist posting looking for someone to “date” Percy in exchange for a Buick Regal. The goal is to bring Percy out of his shell so he’s ready to go to Princeton University in the fall, but it proves to be a real challenge for Maddie. No Hard Feelings sparked some controversy due to the age gap between Maddie and Percy, but this was key to their story, and it reflected the real-life age gap between the actors.

Jennifer Lawrence Is 12 Years Older Than Andrew Barth Feldman

In No Hard Feelings, the Beckers were looking for someone no older than 25 to “date” Percy and show him the world of dating, girls, and parties. As Maddie needed the Buick to keep working as an Uber and thus pay all her debts, she responded to the Beckers’ posting, even though she was 32.

Percy was 19 years old and was very socially awkward, which is why his parents were worried about him and wanted him to be “ready” for university, though his shyness and awkwardness were also, in large part, his parents’ fault. The age gap between Maddie and Percy sparked some controversy when No Hard Feelings was announced, but it’s almost the same difference between Lawrence and Feldman.

Jennifer Lawrence was born on August 15, 1990, and Andrew Barth Feldman was born on May 7, 2002, meaning there’s a 12-year age difference between them. While filming No Hard Feelings, Lawrence was 32 years old, just like Maddie, and Feldman was 20, almost the same age as Percy. The age gap between the actors being the same as the one between the characters definitely helped sell the story and the bond between Maddie and Percy, even if some viewers found it to be problematic.

Did No Hard Feelings’ Age Gap Controversy Hurt The Movie?

Controversy around No Hard Feelings began when the first trailer was released, as it showed Maddie trying to seduce Percy, with no explanation of how much older she was. Many accused the film of promoting grooming, even though Percy is older than 18, as his immaturity might have given the wrong idea before the movie came out. In the end, the age gap issue didn’t hurt the movie, as it was clear that the story wasn’t what everyone thought when the trailers were released.

No Hard Feelings performed well at the box office, earning over $87 million (via Box Office Mojo), and got decent reviews, with most critics praising Lawrence’s performance. Although No Hard Feelings still got its fair share of criticism, it wasn’t anything big or serious that ended up hurting the movie. Ultimately, No Hard Feelings benefited from the discussion that was sparked with its first trailer (whether it was intentionally made to provoke that exact reaction or not is unknown), and the age gap was key to the individual stories of Maddie and Percy and their friendship.

Other Romance Movies With Significant Age Gaps

More Films Are Featuring A Romance Between An Older Woman & A Younger Man

Age gaps are a common and often controversial trope in romance, and they pop up in many popular Hollywood movies. Even though most romance movies with age-gap relationships are between two consenting adults, many can be problematic. The classic 1954 movie Sabrina features a whopping 30-year age gap between romantic leads Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. In the film itself, their characters are 20 years apart, which is significantly less jarring, but the fact that Hepburn’s character’s father is employed by Bogart’s character adds another problematic layer to the gap.

Similarly, the iconic Pretty Woman (1990) has an 18-year age gap between its two stars, Richard Gere and Julia Roberts. The film already hasn’t aged well due to its problematic depiction of Sєx workers, and the age gap makes it even worse, as the 40-year-old Gere is the one with all the power, as he hires the 22-year-old Roberts when she’s down on her luck.

In addition to these тιтles, many romance movies in Woody Allen’s filmography feature May-December relationships, almost always with an older man and a younger woman. This is especially jarring considering the disturbing allegations against Allen. Though he has been largely excised from Hollywood, he continues to make movies overseas in Europe.

However, not all movie age-gap romances are problematic, and recent years have seen many films with the trope reversed. 2024 was a huge year for romance movies featuring an older woman and a younger man. Nicole Kidman starred in not one but two of these тιтles — Babygirl, in which she plays a CEO who has a kinky affair with her intern (Harris Dickinson), and A Family Affair, where she is an author who embarks on a romance with her daughter’s boss (Zac Efron).

What makes these movies such a breath of fresh air is that they’re almost all entirely focused on the female character’s Sєxuality. Whereas Hollywood often confines middle-aged women to the roles of mom or wife, these films let their heroines be complex, layered characters with healthy Sєx drives. Even though No Hard Feelings is about Percy’s Sєxual awakening, Maddie’s confident, effortless Sєxuality is what makes the movie so interesting and worth watching.