Chances are you've seen Kathryn Hahn crop up in many
a comedy, ranging from Bridesmaids to Anchorman - she's always been
that woman in the background. So it brings great joy that she finally
gets a chance to lead the way in her latest film, Afternoon Delight, showcasing her immense talents as an actress.
Hahn's
Rachel is a married thirty-something with a young child who seems stuck
in a rut. Her marriage is crumbling under the pressure of her husband's
- Jeff (Josh Radnor) - insistence on working all the
time and a lack of sexual activity in her life. Attempting to bring that
'something' back into their marriage, they both agree to head to a
strip club in the hope that it will rekindle that old flame. While in
the club, they come across beautiful blonde stripper McKenna (Juno Temple) whom Rachel takes a vested interest in.
A
day passes and Rachel is keen to find out more about McKenna, and so
heads out to the neighbourhood in which the stripper is located and the
two begin to get to know one another more. When McKenna is left with
nowhere to live, Rachel, always keen to help others out, offers a bed at
hers. What Rachel doesn't realise is that her helpful nature is about
to affect her life and everyone's around her, as McKenna becomes
acquainted with her friends and family with serious consequences.
Afternoon
Delight is a conundrum of a film that never quite identifies itself
between being a comedy and/or a serious drama. At the heart of the story
is a woman whose life is going through the ringer, her emotions all
over the place and the physical side of her relationship really
insignificant. While this real-life issue remains key, there are times
where humour is attempted as means of escaping the situation at hand,
but simply feels completely misplaced.
Nevertheless, the heart and
soul of the film is undoubtedly Kathryn Hahn. Too long she has lingered
in the background, and when she finally gets to step out from the
shadows she really nails it with a powerful performance that truly hits
home. While many may be under the impression that Hahn is a comedic
performer, she turns the tables here with a striking emotive response,
capturing the reality of her character's situation and drawing in the
audience.
Providing their own source of acting calibre, co-stars
Juno Temple and Josh Radnor are also on fine form. Two acting presences
who feel at home on the indie circuit, Radnor and Temple are yet again
welcome sights in their respective roles. Radnor's work-obsessed husband
sees him move on from the single middle-aged characters we have grown
to know him for, and he carries this extremely well, while Temple's
promiscuous stripper McKenna is a familiar sight but yet far from a
distraction from the positive. Much praise should also be given to Jane Lynch,
whose limited screen time as Rachel's shrink proves she is still one of
the best standout actresses out there. Witty and extremely clever, her
delivery of dialogue and interaction with Hahn results in the most
memorable scenes within the film.
It feels a great shame for such
successful performances to be hampered by directing that ruins the
dynamic of what could have been a very impressive film. You only have to
look at one scene, involving a wives party that slowly descends into
something that looks like it has been lifted straight out of a 'Real
Housewives Of...' episode, to truly see that Afternoon Delight seriously
lacks the directing prowess to couple with its A-class cast.
Filled
with great performances, yet weighed down by an indecisiveness in its
execution, Afternoon Delight often cracks open a can of laughter and
combines with human drama, but is essentially all over the place. Not
quite the delight it offers in the title.
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