Steve Brill directs Elizabeth Banks, Gillian Jacobs and James Marsden in this comedy about a newscaster who finds herself stranded and penniless on the wrong side of LA after a one night stand. 

Elizabeth Banks deserved a headline vehicle. Sadly this diluted After Hours rip-off has neither the gags nor the guts. It leans hard into outdated stereotypes; all the black characters are fast talking aggressives (I got sick of hearing the phrase “Da bitch from da news”), all men want to wangle a fuck from Banks whatever her level of dishevelment and just about everyone thinks she’s a whore… because she is wearing… a… yellow… dress. That aside, none of these jokes reach any transgressive punchlines. When Banks finds herself outside a strip bar or a shoot out she runs. I’m not saying if she participated it would be any more fruitful but the central joke seems to be the good girl finds herself almost committing crimes, almost degrading herself but never almost making us laugh. If only on her never ending walk she tripped over one winning zinger you could understand why the charismatic Banks put her eggs in this particularly bland and unsavoury basket. I mean… there is a revisited cat moment that does raise a chuckle. If Elizabeth just sent us all a link to some YouTube clips we’d be saved the remaining 89 minutes of fumbling nothingness.

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