‘No Hard Feelings’ True Story: Read The Real Craigslist Ad For a “Cute Girl” to Date A Mom’s 18-Year-Old Son: “Take His Virginity” (2024)

No Hard Feelings is now available to buy on video-on-demand, which means you can now watch one of the funniest movies of the year from the comfort of your couch. Jennifer Lawrence fans have known for years that she would absolutely crush it in a comedy, and now, she has. Woohoo!

Directed by Gene Stupnitsky, who also co-created Jury Duty with Lee Eisenberg, No Hard Feelings stars Lawrence as a 32-year-old Uber driver named Maddie, who desperately needs money so she doesn’t lose her parents’ home in the increasingly gentrified Montauk. Unfortunately, when her car gets impounded, she loses her only source of income.

Then Maddie discovers a Craigslist ad posted by helicopter parents (Laura Benanti and Matthew Broderick), offering a free car in exchange for “dating” their sheltered 19-year-old son (Andrew Barth Feldman). She decides to go for it. Cue the inappropriate sexual hilarity!

Obviously, it’s just a silly movie. What parent would actually pimp out their son like that? Well, you may be surprised and horrified to learn that No Hard Feelings was partially inspired by an actual Craigslist posting.

Is No Hard Feelings based on a true story?

The premise of No Hard Feelings was inspired by a real-life Craigslist ad. However, beyond that, No Hard Feelings is not based on a true story.

But if you want to learn more about the Craigslist post that inspired director Gene Stupnitsky, who also co-wrote the movie with John Phillips, check out the bonus features that come with your digital purchase—in particular, the special feature titled “A Little Wrong: Making No Hard Feelings.” In that featurette, Lawrence explains that Stupnitsky came to her with the Craigslist ad, explaining he wanted to turn it into a movie, and that he had her in mind for the starring role. “He showed me that article, which made me laugh, extra hard,” Lawrence said.

Stupnitsky added, “I think in the ad it was 20 to 22, was the age range, or something much younger [than Lawrence]. But I think it’s much funnier if she’s older.”

In fact, you can still read the original, viral Craigslist ad that inspired No Hard Feelings, thanks to a write-up by The Huffington Post in 2013. The ad was posted in the Philadelphia “personals” and “casual encounters” sections, under the title “Sugar Baby for my Son.” Though the post is no longer live, a screenshot of the original has survived.

The full ad reads:

This is going to sound strange but by son is a senior in High School and I want to help him. He’s 18 and will go away to Harvard in the fall. He’s extremely smart but socially awkward, has never had a girlfriend, and I’m sure he’s a virgin. I want to find a cute young girl to date him and turn him from high school nerd to cool college kid. He’s very handsome and extremely fit. he’s on the varsity cross country team so I’d say there’s almost zero body fat on him. You need to be 19 or under as 20+ would probably freak him out. lol

Here’s my plan. I’ll buy 4 tickets to some great concert coming up and give two to my son and 2 to you. He will know nothing about the other 2 tickets. He’ll go to the show with one of his buddies (no way he’ll take a girl, he’s to shy to ask them out) and you and your friend will be in the seats next to them. Now you spring into action, you start talking to him during the concert and eventually pick him up. Ask him to take you somewhere after and ditch your friends. Then you seduce him and take his virginity. Keep dating him (and showing him different sex positions) til he goes to college and then let him go gently so he’ll have the confidence to date other girls once he’s there.

In return I’ll make your financial issues disappear. ;) Please put your favorite type of car in the subject, to show that you’re real. Thanks! [sic]

As you can see, there are some key differences between the real ad and the ad invented for No Hard Feelings. Feldman’s character is 19 and going to Princeton, rather than 18 and going to Harvard. The parents in No Hard Feelings are significantly less explicit about their desire to have a girl “take their son’s virginity,” and don’t have the elaborate concert ticket plan that the real Craigslist mom did. And of course, in No Hard Feelings, the payment is a car, rather than money, to cater to Maddie’s specific problem of needing a car to keeping driving for Uber. (Of course, the real-life ad may have been hinting a car was up for grabs, with that line about a “favorite type of car.”)

Earlier this year, Sony’s marketing team instigated its own version of the “Date Our Son” ad in the form of a billboard, in a sneaky early promo for No Hard Feelings, via billboards and ads in Los Angeles and New York.

Beyond the Craigslist-ad inspiration, none of the characters or plot lines in No Hard Feelings are based on real people or events. Whether or not the real-life Craigslist mom found a “sugar baby” to have sex with her son remains a mystery. The ad has since been taken down. Hopefully, that kid had a successful college career and a stern chat with his mom about boundaries.