You know Kathryn Hahn from somewhere. What’s that movie again?
Given Hahn’s lengthy resume, it could be any number of things: She’s frequently glimpsed in bawdy supporting roles in comedies like “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” “Anchorman,” “Our Idiot Brother” and “Wanderlust,” among others.
You could be thinking of her banner TV season last year, when she played Paul Rudd’s ruthless campaign manager in “Parks and Recreation” and the hip mom on “Girls” who hired Jessa as a nanny. Or maybe you recently saw “We’re the Millers,” in which she plays the chatty wife of Nick Offerman’s DEA agent.
Hahn’s become ubiquitous in small but memorable parts. Not every actress can pull off dialogue like, “I wanna roll you into a little ball and shove you up my vagina,” her pickup line to John C. Reilly in “Step Brothers.”
This Friday, Hahn stars in “Afternoon Delight” as Rachel, a bored stay-at-home mom who befriends a stripper (Juno Temple) and invites her to move into the family’s spare room.
“She’s so incredibly unhappy and her marriage is at a breaking point,” Hahn says of her character, “and she just brings a bomb into the house.”
Given Hahn’s demonstrated willingness to “go there” comedically, it’s perhaps not surprising to see her go all-out in this dark and edgy film, which, besides its multiple sex scenes (including an ecstatic orgasm shot of Hahn), features some dialogue between moms that seems likely to take viewers by surprise.
As a group of them gets drunk on wine, Rachel begins nudging the conversation toward taboo topics, including date rape and the ethics of masturbating to scenes from “The Accused.”
“These are obviously difficult, huge, awful things, and to be talking about them in this jokey way, that’s their way of coping,” says Hahn. “They do it under auspices of a wine tasting. All these things are tumbling out of their mouths that they can’t take back. When Rachel talks about her college rape like that, it just shows how distanced she is from her own life.”
Shooting that scene, Hahn says, “was an incredibly profound thing. The director let us do 20-minute takes. I mean, there was a lot of fake wine — but it also felt very true.”
Directed by Jill Soloway, a writer for “Six Feet Under,” the film takes an unflinching look at the deeply buried pain Hahn’s character is in and the dynamics of a sexless marriage.
It’s a messy, nuanced portrait of womanhood, says Hahn, 39, a married mother of two.
“She has nothing to complain about, she’s got everything. But there’s a lot of empathy for this woman,” she says. “She didn’t quite know who she was all of a sudden. She needs a purpose. And a job.”
She also needs to have sex with her husband (Josh Radnor), something that hasn’t happened in many months — which leads her to suggest they try having an “eyes-open orgasm.”
“That scene made me laugh so hard,” Hahn says. “These were the most intimate scenes I’d ever done. And Radnor’s a gem. He’s a peach! He and [director] Jill made it so safe.”
It’s hardly Hahn’s first stab at drama. She was a regular on the crime series “Crossing Jordan” from 2001-2007 and played a supporting role in the 2008 Kate Winslet/Leo DiCaprio film “Revolutionary Road.” But “Afternoon Delight” marks the first time she’s front and center in Hollywood.
“I don’t think I was ready for a part like Rachel until recently,” she says. “As a 23-year-old, I would have had none of the confidence needed to put a movie on my shoulders.”
But don’t count her out for another chance to lob more profane banter at Paul Rudd or Will Ferrell in the future. “I love ensembles,” she says. “I love that work ethic.”
Besides, she says, “I always felt like an impostor in Hollywood. I’m still starstruck. I can’t believe I’ve been invited to the party.”