User reviews

A charming, touching indie dramedy. I watched it mainly because I really like comedian Kathryn Hahn. I've loved her presence as a character actress since she popped up in Step Brothers a few years back, and she's stolen scenes in movies such as Wanderlust and TV shows such as Parks & Recreation since then. I'd heard it was a bad film, but I thought it was pretty good. Hahn stars as a wife and mother. Her marriage (to Josh Radnor) isn't bad, necessarily, but their sex life has kind of died. One night, on a whim, she decides to have a couples date with her best friend at a strip club (her friend swears that it gets her husband's motor running). There she meets a young stripper played by Juno Temple, and she becomes a little obsessed with the girl afterward. Not sexually, exactly, though there may be an element of that. It's kind of a motherly attention, mixed with a deep curiosity regarding the girl's highly sexual lifestyle. When she finds the girl outside of work, she's basically homeless, so Hahn takes her home, hoping to maybe glean some of her secrets. There isn't much of a plot. It's mostly just a film about people. It really gives Hahn, who is in general a supporting player, a chance to shine, and, man, does she ever. This is a fantastic performance. Temple is quite good, too. The men in the picture are a little underdeveloped. If Radnor had been more of a character, the film might have been great. As it is, it's pretty good.

If I had a dollar for every time an independent film opened with a man or woman looking lost, listless, and disheveled, I think I'd have about a day's pay. This time, however, the disheveled soul is Rachel (Kathryn Hahn), a stay-at-home mother who is falling into a midlife crisis a bit too early it would appear. Her marriage with her husband Jeff (Josh Radnor) has gone sexless, her child's school events fail to drum up anything besides faux-excitement, and her purpose in life seems to be nothing of any particular significance. Out of the blue, and because of a recommendation from a close friend, she plans a date- night with her husband at a local area strip club to hopefully spice up their sexlife in the bedroom.

Instead of inspiring sexual energy, Rachel finds herself inspired by McKenna (Juno Temple), a beautiful blonde stripper who claims she's nineteen and has found the ins and outs of the exotic dancing world at a young age. Rachel, taken by McKenna's positivity given her situation, which can often be viewed as degrading, and her mature behavior, hires her as a live-in nanny, however, effectively creating tension between Jeff and her family.

Hahn is terrific here as a woman who is in a part of her life that is not only difficult to go through but difficult to portray accurately. The character of Rachel doesn't seem to know what she wants, and because of that, Hahn already has the difficultly of trying to make a character like that not only sympathetic but accessible to the audience. For what she does, Hahn succeeds almost through-and- through, portraying a character who isn't always likable, isn't always friendly, but is consistently human and easy to identify with in the regard that she makes mistakes, sometimes socially-lethal ones, like we all do, and for that we can admire her in her relatability.

While Hahn takes centerstage here, Juno Temple as an actress here and in other films. Temple has frequently kept herself in the role of a working class woman who is trying to do right but finds ways to get herself in situations that pull her in different directions. Her previous films - like Dirty Girl, which beautifully demonstrated her potential as a lead, Killer Joe, and Little Birds - all had those qualities in some particular way, whereas here, she finds ways to be more comfortable with her life choices and not filled with regret or uncertainty. This subtle difference already makes Temple's performance a bit more different than her previous, but the typical lower-income status- quo her character belongs to still echoes the past quite loudly.

It is a shame, however, that with Hahn and Temple assuming the frontlines of the show here that Josh Radnor, a very talented writer/director/actor, is kind of neglected in terms of character and focus here. His only shining-moment is a predictable outburst that occurs late in the film and even that would've worked better if he had more character to him than the neglected husband role who, oh yeah, has feelings.

Furthermore, it's also sad that first time writer/director Jill Soloway decides to have the third act conflict revolve around Rachel in a drunken-haze, spewing "honesty" at all her girlfriends. Such cartoonishness doesn't belong in this picture, and unlike in a film like August: Osage County with wit and unpredictability, Afternoon Delight explores them with triviality and constant predictability.

With that, Afternoon Delight is kind of a jumble, but the pros outweigh the cons just enough that where a mild but present recommendation can be awarded. Not only do Hahn and Temple demonstrate great leading performances, but Soloway bravely shows her captivation with human interest stories. She'd likely be great participating in the mumblecore "movement," something that needs new people to handle some of the attributes of the long-running subgenre.

Starring: Kathryn Hahn, Juno Temple, and Josh Radnor. Directed by: Jill Soloway.

Rachel (Kathryn Hahn) is a smart but bored housewife. She has trouble connecting with her son Logan and has stopped having sex with her husband Jeff (Josh Radnor). Following her friend Stephanie (Jessica St. Clair), she takes her husband to a strip club. Jeff buys her a session in the backroom with stripper McKenna (Juno Temple). Later she tracks down McKenna and befriends her. She takes McKenna in when she runs into problems. Then she finds out that McKenna is a prostitute also. Dr. Lenore (Jane Lynch) is her unhelpful psychiatrist. Jennie (Michaela Watkins) is the bossy school mom.

There are a lot of smart funny women in this. Jill Soloway is mostly a TV writer/producer and she has written some pretty smart stuff. She doesn't really have a directorial style. Kathryn Hahn brings a naturally smart lovely vibe. There is a general oddness with the tone. It's light and cute for the first half. It's even wacky and unreal. Then it tries to go to a darker place which it hasn't earn the right to. It definitely doesn't have the realism to be believable. About an hour into the movie, it takes the turn and it feels unreal. It's almost a different movie. Having so many female comedians may actually hurt this. For example, having Jane Lynch just throws the tone to a different place.

This is an example of film I would never claim is great, but is certainly off the usual beaten (to death) path and therefore at is interesting at least.

The story is about a self-absorbed yuppie mother (Katherine Hahn) who tries to spice up her marriage by going to a strip club and then bringing home a lap dancer (Juno Temple) to be her nanny. I can imagine two movies immediately: it could be some late-night cable sexploitation thing where a hot woman discovers her inner stripper and lives happily (and sexily) ever after, OR it could be some half-assed feminist diatribe where two women from different social classes learn to relate to each other as they come to terms with the commodification of women by the patriarchy, yada, yada. Fortunately, this movie is neither. Instead it's kind of satirical black comedy about a not particularly sympathetic female character who in quest of some kind of sexual liberation makes a complete mess of her life, her new "friend's" life, and generally the lives of everyone around her.

It's also nice to find a movie about strippers that strikes a balance between pure exploitation and the kind "female empowerment" claptrap where Hollywood actresses take on "brave" role as strippers and sex workers, but strictly observe their iron-clad "no-nudity clauses" because that would somehow be giving in to "sexism". Both actresses bravely shed both their clothes and their need to ALWAYS maintain audience sympathy. Juno Temple's character is a proud "sex worker" who does what she does, not because she is either "exploited" or "empowered", but simply because it is a valid career choice. She's totally amoral--kind of like a sexy shark. Hahn's character is a self-loathing Jewish feminist who thinks she has less "hang-ups" than everyone around her when she probably has a lot more.

Hahn at times risks being completely unsympathetic, which may explain a lot of the negative reaction to this movie. It's really hard to dislike Juno Temple, but I think the fact that she's such a desirable little cutie who takes her clothes off in every other role sometimes overshadows what a talented actress she is. Yeah, she gets all the "nudie" roles her prudish American peers won't touch, but if you compare this to "Magic, Magic" to "Cracks" to the British "St. Trinian's" comedies she first appeared in, it's evident she has a lot more range and talent than she's given credit for. This movie is not a comedy masterpiece by any means, but it is certainly worth a look.

RELEASED IN 2013 and written & directed by Jill Soloway, "Afternoon Delight" chronicles events when a bored stay-at-home mom in Los Angeles (Kathryn Hahn) becomes intrigued by a beautiful 'sex worker' (Juno Temple) at a strip club. Surprisingly, she brings her home to live in the extra room and even enlists her as a nanny, which has repercussions. Josh Radnor plays the husband and Jane Lynch the wife's therapist.

This contains some hard R-rated sex-oriented scenes so I encourage you to pass if you find that unsavory. To be honest, I was only interested in "Afternoon Delight" because of the winsome, stunning Juno. This isn't a quirky comedy, but rather a serious drama with amusing touches. The occasional crudeness and overt raciness tempted me to tune out a few times, but I kept watching in the hope that the film had something good to get across; thankfully, it did (see below for details).

THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hours & 38 minutes and was shot in Los Angeles.

GRADE: B-

EXPLANATION (***SPOILER ALERT*** Don't read further if you haven't seen the film):

McKenna (Juno) is a siren, the daughter of a witch. She openly suggests that she's a witch as well. Using her charms, she puts a 'spell' on Rachel (Hahn) at the strip club and so the mesmerized Rachel eventually tracks her down and brings her home. While Rachel sincerely intends on being a positive influence on McKenna and help her get out of the dubious sex business, McKenna intends on luring Rachel into her sleazy lifestyle. McKenna explains to Rachel why she has no qualms about what she does and even justifies it. Rachel is intrigued until she sees McKenna's sordid work up close and rejects it because she discerns that McKenna is unrepentant about her vocation.

Rachel immediately puts the kibosh on McKenna babysitting her friends' girls because she's clearly a bad role model, but the mother has yet to figure out a way to get the prostitute out of the house without making too many waves. That's when the wives go out on the town while the husbands stay home to party with tantalizing McKenna lurking nearby. Needless to say, it's a recipe for disaster and provides a way for McKenna to stick it to Rachel and her 'judgmental' friends.

The negative fallout provokes Jeff (Radnor) to confront Rachel on how she could be so stupid to bring an unabashed whore into their abode. He didn't comprehend Rachel's reasoning: Did she want him to sleep with McKenna? Did SHE want to sleep with her? Jeff failed to grasp that Rachel was under McKenna's "spell" and inadvertently doing her bidding.

Fortunately, Rachel, realizes her error ("waking up" from McKenna's enchantment) and seeks reconciliation with her husband, now fully appreciating her family.

Starts off with a lighthearted vibe and you could well imagine it would be a screwball comedy, but quickly descends into some gritty and raw territory. It's good; watch it.

I'm shocked that none of these reviews even for a moment consider how degrading the film is to McKenna and sex workers in general. Is everyone so basic that they think the ridiculous "Sex worker?" "Sex worker?!" "Sex worker?!" campy echo from Rachael's friends isn't utterly banal? What stuffed-up privileged suburban lives do viewers live that they have zero empathy for working girls and the inane social prejudice against them. Are we supposed to like Rachael? Someone who's friends are such tedious, judgmental, normie biddies that they are horrified by her efforts to help Rachael integrate into a healthy job opportunity? The whole execution of this premise is ridiculously condescending. It could have been a good story, but it's just another example of privileged people using those less advantaged than themselves to fix their own broken lives then flushing them like toilet paper. Revolting.

I found this title on a streaming service and, don't judge me, but I have to admit I was attracted initially by the title and low IMDb rating which promised something a bit cheap and steamy. When I saw however that it starred Katherine Hahn and was written and directed by Jill Soloway I realised it must actually be a pretty good film, and any steam would be a bonus. Soloway was one of the people behind the legendary Six Feet Under as well as Transparent (which incidentally I found patchier but still largely excellent) and this film won't disappoint viewers who loved the realistic dialogue and natural acting of those series. Familiar Soloway territory is explored, namely middle-class people wrangling with issues of sexuality, identity and class in Los Angeles. Hahn plays (superbly, with highly-strung aplomb) Rachel, a married woman having a mid-life crisis. Her nerdy husband buys her a lap dance at a club, which seems to ignite something in her, and later, while buying coffee downtown, she runs into the dancer, McKenna, played by a young and sexy Juno Temple. Rachel befriends McKenna, perhaps thinking some of her laid-back sexiness will rub off on her, and when McKenna gets thrown out of her home, Rachel invites her to stay temporarily in the family home. It turns out McKenna isn't exactly just a dancer and Rachel decides to spice up her non-existent sex life by accompanying her on a home visit to one of McKenna's regular clients. At this point however Rachel's true character comes to the fore as she decides she no longer wants anything to do with McKenna, who in turn also reverts to type during a boys' evening with Rachel's husband and his pals. Ultimately Rachel turns out to be a pretty awful, spoilt middle-class person who doesn't know what she wants and doesn't have a great deal of respect for the working class, so that by the end I was annoyed, not by the film but by her character (though clearly that was the intention). The film is definitely worth more than its current 5.2 IMDb rating (I've seen far more pretentious and tedious films get inexplicably higher scores on here) and also definitely worth investigating - and there is indeed some steam too, if that's what you're looking for.

"If you think I can help you I promise you're not taking." Rachel (Hahn) is a stay-at-home mom who is bored with her life. In between her trips to her psychiatrist and helping with her son's preschool fund-raisers she is dealing with a non-existent sex life with her husband and repetitive routines everywhere else. One night, trying to spice things up, her and her husband go to a strip club where she meets McKenna (Temple) who she sees as a project and sets out to change her. This is a perfect example of a movie that is not done justice by its trailer. If you watch it you will expect a raunchy sex comedy. What this is a very personal and sometimes depressing movie about how a women goes to drastic measures to change her life. Kathryn Hahn is one of the funniest women actors today but this really shows that she is more then just a comedic force. The movie does have some funny moments in this but do not expect a laugh out loud comedy. This is a true dark dramedy about what a woman will do when she feels trapped. Overall, this is the definition of the saying "be careful what you wish for." A real surprise that I really liked and recommend. I give this an A-.

Stay at home mum and bored housewife Rachel (Kahryn Hayn) tired of kindergarten mom meet ups and help-the-homeless functions receives a boost to her non-existent sex drive when she's jokingly given a lap dance at a strip club courtesy of her workaholic husband Jeff (Josh Radnor). Curious to unravel more of her newly discovered eroticism she secretly revisits the strip bar only to "accidentally" bump into the young woman named Whitney (Juno Temple) who gave her the lap dance and they begin chatting. Many coffees later Rachel slowly becomes aware of Whitney's empowering hold of her own femininity and they soon become friends and, coupled with a cry for help with her own life, Rachel sees an opportunity to help Whitney break free of her inappropriate lifestyle by inviting her into her home and offering Whitney a small position as a live in nanny. When Whitney's OTHER job as a classy escort comes to light things begin to effect Rachel's moral compass and the already precarious family relationship.

Written and directed by Jill Soloway Afternoon Delight is essentially centered on one woman who is desperate for release emotionally, sexually and physically. Working on many levels, this film continually addresses the deep issues most married couples experience and has the ability to keep the mood upbeat and funny. While actually a reasonably good flick the difficulty in portraying the emotional elements onto screen made it hard to become engrossing. Good performances all round.

I've previously been a big fan of the director's work, The United States of Tara and Six Feet Under especially, but this is a tiresome piece which doesn't really go anywhere. Or anywhere interesting, at least.

Bored housewife Rachel (Kathryn Hahn) seems to be trudging through every day life without taking much pleasure in it until she meets a stripper with a heart of gold (or so it seems at first) and invites her in to her home. After discovering that said stripper is also a sex worker she becomes more obsessed with her, until, inevitably, events take a darker turn.

The first half hour of the movie is fairly amusing and well written, albeit with thinly sketched characters that it's hard to care about. But after that the film is painfully self-indulgent, predictable, and transforms in to a tedious mumblecore flick where we're supposed to care for the central leads despite them having no depth at all. An incredibly over long and agonisingly dull party scene seems to go on forever and from that point on everything is hit home with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, until the film eventually ends and you'll wonder why it couldn't all have been summed up within 45 minutes.

Centering around the idea that "You don't appreciate what you've got until you've lost it", it could be of interest if it wasn't for the badly drawn characters and frustratingly predictable plot developments, that ultimately lead to an ending you'll have seen coming a mile off. It's a real shame as the first thirty minutes show promise, but it truly fails to deliver on it.

I'm not married but yet I know for a fact that there's no rulebook to a successful marriage. Nobody knows for sure what will save or end a marriage? The trick or plan that you think will save a marriage may not always work and the most unexpected one might actually help you win over your partner. Sometimes even the dumbest ideas can save a marriage. Focusing on one such dumb idea, Jill Soloway's "Afternoon Delight", is about the story of a couple's marriage that's almost kaput, and if there's anything that could save it, what is it?

Jill could have made one of those cute romantic comedies that we all like to watch so much because in reality, most of our lives are the exact opposite. However, she refrains from the taking the usual path and challenges herself with this sly and rewarding romantic dramedy, sprinkled with occasional humour, that turns out to be a well- intentioned tale of marriage.

In her first leading role, Kathryn Hahn plays Rachel, a suburban housewife who's having problems with her marriage. She hasn't had sex with her husband for, god knows, how long because she has lost count of it. Her marriage is on the brink of collapse when she's offered a dumb idea to visit a strip club with her husband to spice up their marriage.

Rachel convinces her husband Jeff, played by Josh Radnor, to go with her to the strip club, where she's given a lap dance by a 19-year old McKenna, Juno Temple. Following which, Rachel tends to develop a strange feeling for McKenna, and eventually befriends her. And when McKenna doesn't have a place to say, Rachel is kind enough to offer her shelter in her house without even consulting Jeff. But McKenna is not a stripper, but a high end sex worker. How does this impact Rachel, her family and even her friends?

At first, it's tough to understand the relationship between Rachael and McKenna. Did Rachael really care for McKenna when she was homeless, and therefore, she offered her place to say or was it to because she wanted her to spice up her sex life? But it's clearly not the second reason when we see how uncomfortable Rachael feels when she accompanies McKenna to one of her long-term clients. It's only towards the end you realize that Rachael really cared for McKenna but couldn't let her stay with her because her own relationship with her husband was in a mess.

Jill makes a very strong point through the relationship of Rachael and McKenna. She raises the question whether is it acceptable to have a sex worker in your family because you care for her. This is further reiterated in one the scenes when there's a debate about the suitable word to describe McKenna – a sex worker or a prostitute. Otherwise, we have an enjoyable romantic drama with interesting and strong female characters and even better performances that leaves you emotionally uplifting. With a very subtle narrative, Jill addresses domestic issues with unparalleled sensitivity, criticism and wit no debutant filmmaker would dare to attempt.

Although portraying a troubled character, Hahn seemed to have pulled it off with aplomb. I doubt if anyone else could have done justice to her role as much as she did. She is fittingly backed by Juno Temple in her captivating performance of a sex worker. She was so good that sometimes you feel like she is actually one in real life. It's a woman-centric film told from the perspective of a woman, and therefore, men happen to be only making guest appearances in some scenes. Nevertheless, we get a strong performance from Radnor in a role we are so not used to see him in.

"Afternoon Delight" plunges deep into raw, intimate and uncomfortable areas that most films in the same genre would avoid.

Read more reviews at http://movieroundup.in/

My girlfriend put this on as a random choice from Netflix. When I saw the synopsis I put an imaginary gun to my head and pulled the trigger.

Of course I ended up watching it right to the end and wouldn't let her turn it off when she got bored.

This is a character piece about a woman who is going through a mid life crisis and somehow befriends a stripper. You can see this isn't going to end great but I was kept guessing if they were going to go 'Poison Ivy' or 'Thelma and Louise' or another direction. I think you might too.

I couldn't switch off as I desperately wanted to know why the main character was making these bizarre choices.

It didn't hurt that there the film also has a fair amount of nudity, strippers, and that the lovely Kathryn Hahn gets her boobs out.

On a more serious note. Very good acting, great performances and dialogues, good production etc.

Making a film is hard, no one disputes that, and I have respect for the filmmaker for making this film. But if this is the best direction of American independent film of 2013 then the answer is simple, cinema is dead. The fact that this film has played almost nowhere in Europe (festival wise) shows the impact it has internationally and the limited view that somewhere like Sundance can have on the current state of cinema. I don't have any ill will towards Ms. Solowayl or her film, but cinema should be there to enlighten, excite, experiment, not play into clichés and formulas (in this case, the indie that really wants to be the next multiplex family train wreck). This film isn't terrible, it's just average, another movie, with some "names," used as a calling card to go on and help Ms. Soloway make more mediocre work. And as the protagonist says in the TV SET, "make the world more mediocre." Hopefully, before her next attempt, she'll actually watch some films (and learn about cinema), think about what she wants to say and try and do something as an artist that is, even mildly, important. And of course "important" is relative, but if this was the last film she could make, would this be the story she would want to tell? Really? If the answer is yes, then not only is cinema dead, but culture as well. In the days of TED talks, Starbucks alternative mix CDs, etc.. this fits in just fine. Something you think is radical, but when you really look at it critically, it's just more suburban POV, that has nothing more to say than, "our life is boring." We know that already. I give her a five, if nothing more, for effort.

In reviewing any film, it's important to keep one's feelings towards the plot and characters separate from one's judgment about the piece as a work of art.

This is especially true of Jill Soloway's low-budget film, whose characters are thoroughly despicable. Rachel (Kathryn Hahn) is a bored homemaker frustrated with her marriage to workaholic Jeff (Josh Radnor): unable to find satisfactory help from her therapist (Jane Lynch), Rachel adopts local hooker McKenna (Juno Temple) as her live-in nanny for her son Logan (Sawyer Ever). For the most part McKenna does a competent job, studiously keeping her personal and professional lives separate, while Rachel makes a good stab of not telling her middle-class friends precisely what she has done. Inevitably, however, the situation ends in tears, with Rachel's uncomfortable secret being discovered, and McKenna moving out amid acrimonious circumstances.

The film resembles DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES with added sexual spice, as it focuses on the empty lives of a group of well-to-do homemakers with plenty of money but little to entertain themselves except going to parent-teacher association meetings, or organizing events at their children's high schools. This boredom is what drives Rachel into the futile task of trying to 'rescue' McKenna. The fact that the younger girl might not want rescuing seems not to enter Rachel's head. At the end director Soloway invites us to reflect on who is the most morally culpable: is it Rachel, her husband, or the group of women she associates with?

Filmed on a low budget, but with a good eye for light and shade (much of the action takes place in bright Californian sunshine, an ambiance that seems especially inappropriate for the morally dubious material in the script), AFTERNOON DELIGHT makes a damning criticism of middle-class life, especially that practiced by people with too much money and very little self-awareness.

Decent movie. Nice story. Good message. And very realistic.

Afternoon Delight plays a bit like a Judd Apatow flick, from a female perspective. It's enjoyable, unexpectedly; after the first scene I sighed deeply expecting another film about about L.A. upper middle class problems. The film turned into something much more poignant.

Despite some automated plot clichés, the film plays earnestly and honestly, following a married couple as they struggle to keep the fire going in their relationship - not a plot I would have driven a mile to watch unfold. However the film is (mercifully) very funny, with a good eye for improv and dialogue, and it aims for the heart. For the most part it's on target - and it tackles some complicated grey-area issues that we all face in relationships.

Kathryn Hahn I'd seen (and hardly noticed) in Our Idiot Brother, but here she delivers an effective, multi dimensional performance.

A strong film, made better by the fact that I kind of stumbled upon it without previous expectations.

Spoiled rich people bored with their lives go looking for something to spice up their mundane lives.

Dialogue like "I know I shouldn't complain there are women getting raped in Darfour 1, 2, 3X a day" - not funny!. Message to women is- stick to your boring life no matter how unhappy you are because it could be worse. Something out of the 50's and 60's. Bored housewives. Cheating husbands. Prostitutes who are happy in their jobs and in their lives not very realistic

I thought we had progressed beyond this point

Not very evolved.