Overview
A night in New York City spirals into chaos as one man's date takes a surreal turn.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Breakneck
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Mild
- frantic
- witty
- paranoid
- late night viewing
- dark comedy marathon
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as a brilliantly directed, frantic, blackly comic, and underappreciated Scorsese work.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Paul Hackett's attempt at a simple date spirals through missing money, hostile strangers, transportation problems, and increasingly improbable coincidences.
Soho's streets, apartments, clubs, and subways become an uncanny maze as Paul searches for a way home.
The film combines frantic energy and black humor with unrelenting pressure and an atmosphere of pervasive paranoia.
Paul's night is shaped by the neighborhood's artists, punk-inflected nightlife, eccentric residents, and nocturnal gathering places.
Films like After Hours, and why
The King of Comedy
shares frantic urban paranoia, black humor, surreal escalation, and a hapless protagonist trapped by bizarre coincidences
Eyes Wide Shut
shares nocturnal city unease, darkly comic alienation, stylized urban spaces, and mounting psychological pressure
The Big Lebowski
shares absurdist misadventure, escalating farce, eccentric encounters, and a protagonist struggling to escape an irrational social world
Miracle Mile
shares anxious urban nightscape, surreal detours, black comedy, and a sense of ordinary life turning hostile
Movie Details
- Director
- Martin Scorsese
- Release Date
- 1985-09-13
- Runtime
- 97 min
- Rating
- 7.5 / 10 (1841)
Cast
- Griffin Dunne
- Rosanna Arquette
- Verna Bloom
- Tommy Chong
- Linda Fiorentino
- Teri Garr
- John Heard
- Cheech Marin
- Catherine O'Hara
- Dick Miller
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Howdy Amazon Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is After Hours about?
- A routine downtown date becomes a delirious overnight survival mission through Soho's paranoid, blackly comic underworld.
- What is After Hours like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of After Hours as breakneck, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is After Hours violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in After Hours as mild.
- What did critics think of After Hours?
- Critics broadly regard the film as a brilliantly directed, frantic, blackly comic, and underappreciated Scorsese work.
- Which films are like After Hours?
- Films with a similar feel include The King of Comedy, Eyes Wide Shut, The Big Lebowski, and Miracle Mile.
- How long is After Hours?
- After Hours runs 97 minutes.
- Where can I watch After Hours?
- In United States, After Hours streams on Howdy Amazon Channel.
