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March 28, 2024, 08:19:16 PM

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Afternoon Delight (2013)

Started by Small Man Big Horse, April 30, 2014, 07:28:16 PM

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Small Man Big Horse

I've previously been a big fan of the director's work, her episodes of Six Feet Under especially (and I found elements of The United States of Tara interesting, and really need to see more of it), but this is a tiresome piece which doesn't really go anywhere. Or anywhere interesting, at least.

It centers around the well off yet bored housewife Rachel (Kathryn Hahn) who seems unable to take any pleasure in life, despite not having to work, and being able to live a luxurious existence. Her husband (The Cunt from How I Met Your Mother) also seems fed up, apart from the times he's hanging around with his male mates and annoying people with his terrible face. They're also not having sex, so upon advice from a friend, they visit a strip club where Fuckhead buys a lapdance for his wife, and she becomes fascinated with the poor girl. The stripper with a heart of gold is played by Juno Temple, so yes, of course there is nudity, and after a contrived meeting they become friends and after she's thrown out of her abode, Rachel invites her in to the family home. And after discovering that the stripper is also a sex worker she becomes more and 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, especially husband IwishhewasdeadIhatehimsomuch. 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 a complete lack of subtlety, until the film eventually ends and you'll wonder why someone was so cruel as to make you sit through such shit.

Centering around the idea that
Spoiler alert
"You don't appreciate what you've got until you've lost it"
[close]
, 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.

It divided critics a lot though, with some loving it, so I could be completely wrong. Anyone else seen it?