Metacritic reviews

Afternoon Delight succeeds mainly because although the premise is broad, writer/director Jill Soloway is determined to keep it real.

Soloway mines her ensemble of funny ladies more for laughs than emotional insight, but Hahn breaks through it all; she’s the one who provides the glossy rumination with actual heart.

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. It is anything but inspiring.

Alas, the film, which had at worst seemed unfocused (not a cardinal sin for a comedy), takes a bizarrely reactionary turn in the homestretch, undermining all of the goodwill Hahn had accumulated up to that point and turning her character into detestable yuppie scum.

Although there are moments when it feels the plot might move in unexpected directions, in the end, the expected cliches reign.

A film whose themes are as neatly laid out as its characters' behavior is preposterous.

Aiming to discomfort, the film ends up retreating.

It’s impossible to buy into the film’s plea to be taken seriously at the end, just as the upbeat finale feels false.

Afternoon Delight is one of those bad films that seem to drift further and further away from a recognizable reality the more we get to know it.

Jill Soloway's film is dishonest in the way it attempts to mask self-pity as enlightened self-criticism.