Modern Family: Part 2

The second of two solid recent releases, left over from late 2013:

AFTERNOON DELIGHT (A-minus) - This really is an unexpected delight. The first feature from veteran TV writer/director Jill Soloway ("Six Fee Under," "United States of Tara") has snap as a comedy as well as heart and insight into the lives of 30-somethings strolling zombie-like through marriage and parenthood.

Kathryn Hahn performs like a star in the lead role of Rachel, a restless, guilt-ridden One-Percenter (her husband creates apps) who finds a young stripper out on the street and invites her to stay at the empty nanny's quarters. In the opening scene, Rachel wallows in her white-woman's burden before her therapist, Lenore (Jane Lynch, finding yet another inappropriate character to bring to life); now she can perform a true act of direct charity and mentor an oppressed sister.

The twist here is that the stripper, McKenna (a wonderfully blase Juno Temple), who's really a full-on sex worker, probably has more to teach Rachel about life than Rachel can teach McKenna. Rachel lives in a bubble. She runs with her Jewish posse of moms who are perpetually volunteering and staging charitable events. Her pals include the type-A ringleader Jennie (our favorite, Michaela Watkins), the sassy blond Stephanie (Jessica St. Clair, showing great timing and improv skills), and the devout Amanda (sourpuss Annie Mumolo).

Rachel's husband, Jeff (a pitch-perfect Josh Radnor from "How I Met Your Mother"), sleepwalks through the household activities, often distracted by his smart phone and tuning out Rachel and their 5-year-old son. The dialogue crackles throughout. When Rachel parades around unabashedly in pantyhose Jeff implores her to get dreassed: "Men wear those on their faces when they rob banks."

It was Rachel's idea, goosed by Stephanie, to go to a strip club with their husbands, where Jeff buys Rachel a lap dance from McKenna. Soon Rachel is sneaking off to McKenna's neighborhood, hoping to run into her. Rachel's present when McKenna's belongings end up on the street, and soon McKenna is ensconced in the mansion, a ticking time bomb.

McKenna puts on a half-hearted innocent act (with baby voice) that no one buys. Temple finds just the right tone of a nihilistic millennial who is comfortable with her body and unashamed about her lifestyle. She offers an open invitation to Rachel to join her with a client who likes having another woman watch. (Jack is played creepily by John Kapelos, whom I remember from Second City's main stage in the '80s.)

Soloway has a sure hand choreographing the upper-crust angst, epitomized by Rachel's social anxiety about not having multiple children like the rest of her friends and suffering through a six-month sex drought. Rachel studied journalism and once wanted to change the world, but now she languishes as an uninspired stay-at-home mom who can't bring herself to actually get on the floor and play with the son who never took to breast-feeding. (She wants to experience the real world, a theme driven home by a running gag about the goal of the "eyes open" orgasm.)

This all comes to a head when the women have a wine night -- where Rachel gets drunk and insults the others -- while Jeff and the other husbands (including Keegan-Michael Key and a sleazy Josh Stamberg) gather for poker night. As they spin digital tunes and smoke and drink, that ticking time bomb is about to read 00:00.

The set-up, execution and resolution are all organically rendered, capturing a privileged world where one young woman who specializes in artificial hook-ups finds all the vulnerable soft tissue in everyone else's relationships. Things crescendo a bit too sloppily, and the ending wraps things up a little too neatly, but otherwise Soloway has crafted a smart story with a top-notch cast, led by its churning star, the Ana Gasteyer look-alike Hahn.