44 | JUNE 22 • 2023
ANDREW BARTH
FELDMAN, STAN LEE,
CYNTHIA WEIL
No Hard Feelings, a
comedy-drama, opens
in theaters on June 23.
Here’s the plot: Maddie
(Jennifer Lawrence) is
broke when she answers a
very unusual ad. A wealthy
couple are concerned
about their son, Percy,
who is a brilliant high
school student, but is not
interested in people — no
friends, no dates. They hire
Maddie, to quote the film,
“to date Percy’s brains out.”
The No Hard trailers
are quite amusing and, of
course, Jennifer Lawrence
is a terrific actress, equally
good at drama or comedy.
Her presence alone makes
me high on the film.
No doubt, Lawrence is
offered many roles and
turns most of them down.
She has a sharp eye for
good scripts, and almost
all her films are critical and
box-office hits.
Matthew Broderick, 61,
plays Percy’s father, and
Ebon Moss-Bachrach, 46
(Girls on HBO and The
Bear on Hulu) plays Gary, a
family friend.
Andrew Barth Feldman,
20, who plays Percy, is
making his feature film
debut. He has an amazing
track record already as a
musical stage actor on and
off Broadway. In 2019, he
played the title role in the
long-running Broadway
show Dear Evan Hansen.
Normally, I have some
difficulty “verifying” that
a young actor is Jewish.
However, the NY Times
made it easy for me.
They did a long profile of
Feldman when he was 16
and was about to play Evan
Hansen. The profile noted
that his bar mitzvah project
was to put on a cabaret-
night at his school with the
box-office receipts going
to autism research. The
cabaret was such a hit that
it became an annual event.
No Hard Feelings was
co-written and directed by
Gene Stupnitsky, 45. He
was born in Kyiv and grew
up in a Chicago suburb. He
was a longtime writer for
The Office, and he wrote
and directed Good Boys
(2019), a hit comedy film.
I hope Stupnitsky hits
a home run with this film.
It’s been a long time since
Hollywood has released an
intelligent “coming-of-age”
film that amuses teen and
adult audiences alike.
Stan Lee, a new
documentary, is now
streaming on the Disney+
channel. Of course, it is
about the “father of the
Marvel Universe” Stan Lee
(1920-2018). The film has
gotten rave reviews from
critics. The most interesting
review, I think, was written
by Owen Glieberman, 64,
for Variety (free online;
6/10). (Gleiberman was
raised in Ann Arbor.)
The Variety review
functions as a short but
very insightful biography of
Lee. Its first paragraph (just
below) made me want to
see the film, pronto.
“There’s a moment in
Stan Lee, David Gelb’s
lively and illuminating
documentary about the
visionary of Marvel Comics,
that’s momentous enough
to give you a tingle. The
year is 1961, and Lee,
approaching 40, is burnt
out on comics. It’s a form
he has never taken all that
seriously, even though he’s
been working at it since
1939, when he started,
at 17, as a gofer ... Within
two years, he’d become
the company’s editor, art
director and chief writer…
The comics he creates get
so little respect that he
tries to hide his profession
when asked about it at
cocktail parties ... He is
ordered to devise a team
of superheroes that can
compete with DC’s Justice
League … Lee, weary of
superheroes, is ready to
quit the business ... With
nothing to lose, he comes
up with the Fantastic
Four as a new breed of
superhero: characters with
a dash of angst and a host
of ordinary problems…”
David Gelb, 39, is the
son of Peter Gelb, 70,
the artistic director of the
Metropolitan Opera, and
the grandson of the late
Arthur Gelb, a managing
editor of the NY Times.
Lyricist Cynthia Weil died
on June 1, age 82. Weil’s
professional partner was
composer Barry Mann,
now 84. They married
(1961) shortly after they
began working together,
and they remained married
until Weil’s death. So far
as I know, they were a
devoted couple. They had
one child, Dr. Jenn Mann, a
psychologist. They had hits
in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.
If you have never heard
of the couple, or barely
heard of them, here is a
very partial list of their
big hits and the artist(s)
most associated with the
song: “You Lost That Lovin’
Feeling” — the most played
song on American radio
in the 20th century —
and “You’re My Soul and
Inspiration” (both Righteous
Brothers); “Don’t Know
Much” and “Somewhere
Out There” (both Linda
Ronstadt), “Here You Come
Again” (Dolly Parton); “We
Gotta Get Out of This
Place”(The Animals); “On
Broadway” (The Drifters);
and “Walking in the Rain”
(The Ronettes).
CELEBRITY NEWS
NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST
ARTS&LIFE
BROADWAY PODCAST NETWORK
Andrew Barth Feldman
GAGE SKIDMORE
Stan Lee
ANGELA GEORGE
Cynthia Weil