Jennifer Lawrence’s great comedic ability, including in movies like No Hard Feelings, can be surprising considering she hasn’t starred in too many comedy roles. No Hard Feelings has gone viral with audiences and critics praising Lawrence’s aptitude for comedic timing and her convincing performance as a desperate woman inclined to date a wealthy couple’s introverted son to help pay off the property taxes on her home. It is relatively rare to see Lawrence in an onscreen role as unfettered as she was in No Hard Feelings, however, a handful of movies and series throughout her career have long acknowledged her natural gift for comedy.
Instead, most are used to the actress’s more common dramatic roles, which have seen her take on critically acclaimed parts in the X-Men and Hunger Games movie franchises, American Hustle, Joy, and Passengers. The dramatic roles in Lawrence’s catalog have indeed established her as a household name and a multi-nominated, award-winning actress, but they don’t express the breadth of her career. Though they are few and far between, Jennifer Lawrence’s roles in movies and TV distinguished as comedies have revealed her capacity for humor and have illustrated her evolution as a well-rounded actress.
Not Another High School Show
“Frantic Girl.”
It is in fact in comedy where Lawrence started her acclaimed career. One such role was in the 2007 raucous parody spinoff Not Another High School Show where Lawrence played the part of “Frantic Girl.” Not Another High School Show was ordered by Comedy Central after the successful spoof movie Not Another Teen Movie but never got picked up, leading Lawrence’s “Frantic Girl” role to be restrained to the spinoff’s unaired pilot.
Lawrence’s part was brief and culminated in a single punchline. Because Not Another High School Show struggled to get off the ground, Lawrence’s early comedy role was unable to evolve into anything more. With that being said, the “Frantic Girl” role would lend a part in leading the young actress toward other, more promising comedy endeavors.
Monk
“Mascot”
Around the same time, Lawrence landed a part in the comedy-drama police procedural series Monk as “Mascot.” Much like the “Frantic Girl” role, Lawrence was confined to a bit part that restricted her from fully showcasing just how funny she could be. Dressed as a feline, Lawrence hilariously hyped the crowd and interfered with the coach during a big basketball game.
As the very first role in her burgeoning career, Lawrence’s part on Monk was a far cry from the Netflix hit No Hard Feelings, but it did set the tone for the type of actress Lawrence believed she would become. She’d pick up a couple of humorless supporting parts on big and small screen projects like the TV series Cold Case or the Charlize Theron-fronted movie The Burning Plain, but it wasn’t until landing a role on The Bill Engvall Show that she would feel like she had a solid place in the entertainment industry.
The Bill Engvall Show
Lauren Pearson
Lawrence joined the cast of The Bill Engvall Show as Lauren Pearson, the haughty oldest daughter of Bill and Susan Pearson. The Bill Engvall Show was a TBS sitcom written and created by comedian Bill Engvall that followed the everyday suburban lives of the Pearson family unit. As a family counselor and father figure, Bill was often shown struggling to use his professional capabilities to understand his children – including Lauren, who developed a habit of being rebellious and defying her parents.
Lawrence’s role as Lauren was also prematurely cut short, for The Bill Engvall Show was canceled by TBS after three short-lived seasons; however, the stint had a lasting impact on the actress. The slapstick and laugh-out-loud premise fit Lawrence well, and she felt so content in the sitcom environment that she believed she’d become a sitcom actress. In a Hollywood Reporter interview with Oprah, Lawrence went on record to describe her time on The Bill Engvall Show and said, “When I started acting, I was totally satisfied when I was on a sitcom…I was totally satisfied and good. I never dreamed that I could have this kind of career.”
Silver Linings Playbook
Tiffany
After The Bill Engvall Show ended, Lawrence would go on to act in Winter’s Bone, X-Men: First Class, and the very first Hunger Games movie. The prior films would make Lawrence a talent to look out for, but Hunger Games would shoot her into superstardom and, more notably, a coveted dramatic actress. It wasn’t until David O’Russell’s romantic comedy-drama Silver Linings Playbook that audiences were afforded snippets of her comedic capabilities fostered by the early stages of her career on the big screen.
In Silver Linings Playbook, Lawrence took on the role of the young widow Tiffany who was still healing from the death of her husband despite falling for the recently released psychiatric patient, Pat Solitano. While the film had heavy undertones about mental health, Lawrence shined alongside her co-star Bradley Cooper, and their chemistry together made for subtly hilarious and smile-inducing moments. Lawrence won a Best Actress Academy Award for her performance, and it showcased her jump from superficial sitcom humor to a comedic tenacity that enhanced the movie tenfold.
Don’t Look Up
Kate Dibiasky
The same can be said for Lawrence’s part in the 2021 apocalyptic political satire black comedy film, Don’t Look Up, which depended on the use of comedy to drive home its perspective of humankind. The film follows two astronomers, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Dr. Randall Mindy and Lawrence’s Kate Dibiasky, who discover a planet-destroying comet that is en route to Earth. Throughout Netflix’s divisive Don’t Look Up film, Mindy and Dibiasky continuously fail to convince the self-obsessed, money-hungry population to care about the doomsday-level threat.
What ensued was a frustratingly hilarious parody of what the real world would look like if it were ever to face an impending apocalypse. A large part of what made Don’t Look Up work relied on Lawrence and DiCaprio’s performances as the hapless astronomers attempting to forwarn humanity, but still, critics and audience response to the overall movie was extremely mixed. Nonetheless, Lawrence’s performance lent to Don’t Look Up’s satirical nature and can be considered one of her more important comedic roles.
No Hard Feelings
Maddie
The actress’s most recent performance in No Hard Feelings has undoubtedly become her best comedic role and has given the funniest movie moments of Lawrence’s entire career. Down on her luck with finances, Lawrence’s Maddie feels compelled to date a wealthy couple’s awkward teenage son for money. As Maddie in No Hard Feelings, Lawrence was able to embody her natural gift for comedy as her perfectly timed quips, hysterical scenes, and overall air of desperation made the raunchy sex movie perfectly uproarious.
Even more, the No Hard Feelings movie provided audiences with a side to the actress that only a small amount of roles in movies and TV previously showed her. After No Hard Feelings, fans and critics alike are itching to see if Lawrence will traverse the comedy genre again somewhere shortly. Jennifer Lawrence’s next few endeavors see the well-rounded actress return to more dramatic roles; however, with audiences so energetically uplifted by her recent performance in No Hard Feelings, she just might pursue more comedic opportunities down the line.
Sources: The Hollywood Reporter
