No Hard Feelings Cast, Creators on Parents Hiring Jennifer Lawrence, Age Difference Backlash

No Hard Feelings Cast, Creators on Parents Hiring Jennifer Lawrence, Age Difference Backlash,Calling out larger age differences between men and women in other films, including Jennifer Lawrence's own "Silvering Linings Playbook," the cast and creator of "No Hard Feelings" go to bat in defense of the raunchy comedy's premise.

No Hard Feelings Cast, Creators on Parents Hiring Jennifer Lawrence, Age Difference Backlash

The cast and creators of Jennifer Lawrence's raunchy comedy "No Hard Feelings" weigh in on controversies about its helicopter parents hiring someone to date their teen son, and the double-standard of criticizing Lawrence's age difference with co-star Andrew Barth Feldman.

Now that Jennifer Lawrence’s full-on comedy film debut, “No Hard Feelings,” has been unleashed on theaters, its cast and creators are weighing in on some complaints about its icky premise, including a pretty blatant double-standard.

One of the criticisms has to do with the age difference between the film’s two leads, with 32-year-old Lawrence acting opposite 21-year-old Andrew Barth Feldman, who’s playing slightly younger at 19.

“Have you seen ‘The Graduate’?” co-star Natalie Morales says to The Hollywood Reporter about this latter complaint, arguing that Lawrence is “supposed to be playing an older woman.”

She goes on to argue, “There are so many movies where the male lead is much older than the female lead, and TV shows especially, and nobody bats an eye. So what’s the difference.”

Director and writer Gene Stupnitsky agrees, noting that there was a 15-year age difference between Lawrence and her older co-star Bradley Cooper in “Silver Linings Playbook,” and no one batted an eye. “It goes the other way, too,” he noted.

Of course, the bigger complaint about the film is the whole point of it, with some taking issue with the very idea of parents hiring someone to “date” their kid, with even the trailer making it very clear what they mean by date when Lawrence’s character asks that very question.

“Date him hard,” says Matthew Broderick’s father character, as wife Laura Benanti looks on. “I’ll date his brains out,” Lawrence agrees.

The idea that this is overstepping any and all parental boundaries, and a little bit creepy, is so much the point of the satire. But that hasn’t stopped the outrage.

“I feel like it is a very satirical look at what can happen if you do not give your children a longer leash to figure things out for themselves,” she told THR. “Otherwise, you’re going to end up curating their life forever.”

“I guess what happens is when a kid goes off to school, it’s so frightening that they’ll be happy and they’ll make friends and they’ll take care of themselves that some parents go to any length to make that transition work. And it’s a hard time. I’ve been through it,” Broderick agreed. “But you really have to let them make it on their own. But these parents decide to mess with nature.”

Producer Naomi Odenkirk, who found the Craigslist ad that inspired the film’s premise, said, “It’s parents overstepping their bounds, for sure.”

Fellow producer Marc Provissiero added, “It’s not that far removed from actual parenting choices. You want to do everything you can for your kid. Where’s the line.”

Stupnitsky challenges all those people icked out by the premise to actually step outside of their outrage and consider seeing the movie. “If you feel that way when you come out of the movie, I would be surprised,” he told THR.

“We took great pains to be careful about the ick factor because it could go that way,” he continued. “We took a humanist approach and I think that’s all you can ask for.”

The moral of this story is to let your kids find their own way — and maybe don’t judge a film by its trailer (even though that’s kind of the point). Comedy is hard.