Afternoon Delight

Everybody can't be a Captain Save-a-Ho!

Sometimes small films are good enough to highlight the good and bads of society. But the thing is they won't to everybody. This is not a message film, but about doing good. Self is important, but still you can care for other than yourself. It was about an average modern day couple. They come across a young woman working in a strip club and try to support her to give up it to live a normal life like them. They know the risk of letting her in, so what comes later is a trouble that affects the family and friendship.

You won't believe that it was one of the Tarantino's top ten films of the year 2013. I find it not bad as well. But surely it should have been better. Feature film directional debut for the writer and producer. From the woman filmmaker, women oriented film drama. Fun to watch, yet a very serious thematic. From the cast side, both, Kathryn Hahn and Juno Temple were good. Surely a delightful film if you are not anticipating a big from it.

6/10

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.