Afternoon Delight 2013

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: As the sweetly amoral tattooed-goddess-for-hire, Temple does her wiliest acting yet. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: Whether or not you wince, this meticulously acted movie, which won Ms. Soloway a directing award at the Sundance Film Festival, paints an accurate picture of how a segment of youngish, educated, affluent, white Americans converse. Read more

Mike D'Angelo, AV Club: There weren't many promising paths for Soloway's high-concept premise to take. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: The results are a little life lesson-y but well-observed. Read more

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader: A couple's marriage is edging toward collapse when they try to reboot their dormant sex life in this sly, hip, and rewarding comedy of manners. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: It's an up-and-down movie, honest one minute and a fraud the next, but you stick with it mainly because of Hahn. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: The entire film is good but the revelation here is Hahn, reliably one of the funniest women in Hollywood, now suddenly given a rich, complex and even sexy role. Read more

Laremy Legel, Film.com: This could very well be a movie we look back on in a decade to note the copious amounts burgeoning talent held within, just waiting to break through the surface. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: There's not much delightful about Afternoon Delight, an off-putting comedy about a too-idle Los Angeles woman that all of a sudden in the last few minutes decides it wants to be a serious movie. Read more

Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times: [An] erratic blend of not-quite satire and halfhearted soul searching. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: The story doesn't hold together, but Hahn and Temple are terrific. Read more

Jordan Hoffman, New York Daily News: These are very much first-world problems, and the portrayal of Temple's happy hooker is a tad disingenuous. Nevertheless, the fleshed-out performances keep it sympathetic. Read more

Farran Smith Nehme, New York Post: There are some bright one-liners in the beginning, but the comedy/drama mix is an uneasy one, especially considering the shabby way the film treats McKenna, as a tart who's just there to improve some yuppie sex lives. Read more

Michael Sragow, Orange County Register: Funny and trenchant, it isn't a shapely farce. It's a comedy of confusion that dares to be unlikable -- and somehow, that makes it more lovable. Read more

Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com: The moral of the story appears to be: Don't invite a stripper to come live with you in your home. Suggestion noted. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: "Afternoon Delight" defaults to a calculated, upbeat ending that has little organic connection to the story, but it's a crisp and often hilarious female-centric social satire loaded with delicious talent from the TV-comedy pool. Read more

Leba Hertz, San Francisco Chronicle: It's refreshing to hear dialogue that's natural and modern and doesn't try to pontificate. And the rewards are many. Read more

Kristin Tillotson, Minneapolis Star Tribune: [Soloway] excels at drawing out nuances in female friendship. Here, though, she promises an uncomfortable expose of middle-class morality, then doesn't follow through. Read more

Matt Patches, Time Out: ...Hahn breaks through it all; she's the one who provides the glossy rumination with actual heart. Read more

Alissa Simon, Variety: Although there are moments when it feels the plot might move in unexpected directions, in the end, the expected cliches reign. Read more

Nick Schager, Village Voice: The central conceit is impossibly contrived. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: The rubber-faced Hahn is a gifted comic actress and a surprisingly effective dramatic one, while Temple's monotonic twitter keeps the girl a tantalizing enigma. Read more

Sean O'Connell, Washington Post: "Afternoon Delight" puts the typical suburban mother's lifestyle under an uncomfortably honest microscope, then documents the sporadically funny and occasionally sad results. Read more