Written by: Nora Garrett
Starring: Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg, Chloë Sevigny
Rating: [2.5/5]
Films tackling difficult subject matter set themselves a high bar to clear in finding success. The more topical in our contemporary world and that bar continues to elevate, which After the Hunt opted to dive into. While the bravery in tackling the issues deserve commendation, this film fails to truly harness the issues at their core and suffers from some questionable casting only further diminishing the viewing experience.
With tenure on the horizon, Alma (Julia Roberts) has developed great rapport with her colleague Hank (Andrew Garfield) and has the admiration of one of her students, Maggie (Ayo Edebiri). After a party held at her house where Hank offers to walk Maggie home, Alma hears on a later day from Maggie that Hank sexually assaulted her. Wanting to believe Maggie but also hearing outright denial by Hank puts her in a bind.
One of the touchstone moments of the last ten years that opened the eyes of many to a cycle of pain perpetuated against women was the MeToo movement. A movement where women felt empowered to share their stories of surviving assault, and a seismic shift occurred where the public more likely than not believed them. Then, of course, a backlash occurred over the hysteria of false accusations ruining the lives of those accused. After the Hunt looks to wade through these tense waters and unfortunately this screenplay just does not give this subject matter the justice it deserved.
The players involved here all either work or study in the philosophy department, so naturally the film starts with this intricate conversation that enlightens us to the thought process of all these characters. Maggie, the youngster amongst the crew as the PhD student, Alma standing as this authoritative figure everyone in the room respects, and then Hank, who tends to talk in a way where you know he likes the sounds of his own voice. This night sets the plot in motion as the very next day Maggie approaches Alma in confidence to confide what happened and presents this conundrum to Alma. She certainly wants to believe Maggie but also must contend with the possibility of this side not containing the whole truth, especially when she hears the denial by Hank. It sets her down this spiral that further gets enlightened as we learn more about her.
Where this film begins to fall apart is when it bridges over into other larger subject areas where instead of focusing on the central struggle of this terrible situation it becomes this screed about generational differences and cancel culture. None of it feels well-thought-out and more so an exercise of how much the writer can make Julia Roberts be infuriated and continue to destroy herself in the process of seeing where she lands in all of this. It does nothing more than make this big mess without ever going anywhere intriguing or even entertaining,
It certainly does not help that the casting just did not work in helping sell anything going on in this film. Julia Roberts, as expected, was great but Andrew Garfield and Ayo Edibiri certainly were not. Garfield just cannot pull off this scumbag character where all of these rants he would go on just felt entirely insincere. Then we have Ayo Edibiri who has risen very quickly through the ranks and while I love her comedic work, especially in Bottoms, I’m not sold on her dramatic work with this type of subject matter. When hearing Luca Guadagnino originally wanted Zendaya for this role, I could see the vision, which Edibiri could not fulfill. The tense moments where Maggie and Alma would verbally go at each other has Roberts just acting circles around Edibiri making scenes that should carry immense power to feel completely lackluster. Other than Roberts, the only good piece of casting was Alma’s husband Frederik, portrayed by the always-great Michael Stuhlbarg. He brought a type of energy that made it appear he was in a completely different film but I loved everything he was giving.
A decent idea with some disappointing execution, After the Hunt feels like the equivalent of throwing paint everywhere with no discernible plan to make it something worth deciphering. Luca Guadagnino, while a strong director, does pick some dud screenplays and he did with electing to direct this film. Ultimately, a story needing much more refining and some better casting to reach its full potential, which we did not see on display here.
Films with Josh 