We discuss the ending of the 2023 Netflix film Hard Feelings, which will contain significant spoilers.
Hard Feelings begins with a slow-motion montage of wet bodies in swimwear, with a group of high schoolers chanting “Charly no dick” at one awkward teenager as he jumps into the school pool. It quickly cuts to Charly hiding in the locker room while teenage boys swing their big dicks around.
We’re then introduced to Paula, Charlys best friend, who is also a late bloomer with a tom-boy dress sense style and is just as awkward and self-conscious as he is.
Throughout the film, we watch Charly and Paula navigate their new sexual urges, which have positives and negatives, as well as dealing with their parents’ relationships and dating lives.
Paula and Charly try to get revenge on Constantine for slutshaming and lying about Paula having sex with him at a house party. At the school dance, they try to shame him for having a small penis on stage in front of the whole school.
Paula feels terrible, and she and Charly end up on stage with their genitals out in solidarity, which causes all the other students to get their genitals out and chant, “No more shaming.”
The film has a nice full circle, where at first, the students were chanting a shameful slur to Charly, and now they’re standing and chanting with him. It’s a bizarre but funny scene, especially with the teachers just standing awkwardly when everyone has their penis and vaginas out.
You’d expect to see it in the Netflix series Sex Education.
Hard Feelings (2023) Ending Explained
Why was Charly so embarrassed by his dick?
When he was a young boy, a group of other boys pulled his pants down at a local swimming pool and started calling him “no dick,” which then stuck with him throughout high school. However, when he gets a boner in front of the whole school, he gains the new nickname of “boner boy,” which he much prefers.
Why was Paula so afraid of her vagina?
While making out with a boy, and he began to touch her genitals, a song came on in the background, and she began to think of her late father and cry. The boy was freaked out and said she felt weird down there. This made Paula uncomfortable and not want to acknowledge her urges or look at her vagina.
This is then heightened when she overhears her friends talking about her in a bathroom, calling her a slut and hooker. Then the guy who took her to the party claims they had sex when really they didn’t. As this spreads around the school, she gets a reputation for being the school slut.
While Paula’s vagina wants to be sexually active, Paula takes time, explores herself, and waits for the right person.
Why do Charly and Paula talk to their genitals?
This gives the film an edge that other similar coming-of-age comedies don’t have, and I think it worked. Talking to their genitals, which represent their urges, lets the audience see how what we can be showing on the outside isn’t what we feel on the inside.
Especially with Paula: girls have sexual urges and want to have sex but will be labeled a slut for doing so. Charly’s urges make him a viral sensation and wanted by women, while Paula is verbally abused and degraded for her urges.
Talking to their genitals isn’t there to help them through puberty but to showcase the effects our raging hormones can have on our lives. The pressures and awkwardness that come with these raging sexual desires.
Do Charly and Paula end up together?
After Charley and Paula reconcile and become friends again, they join forces to try and shame Constantine at the school dance. After a successful evening, together they leave the dance and finally kiss.
We cut to a bedroom where Willy and Hoo Ha are excited as they plan to take each other’s virginities. The comedy comes in with the sex lasting less than 20 seconds, but the talking genitals have finally stopped, or so they think. Right at the very end, both voices come back saying, “Did you miss us?” and Charly and Paula scream.
What did you think of the ending of the 2023 Netflix film Hard Feelings? Comment below.
