After Hours · reception & legacy
1985 · Martin Scorsese
How After Hours has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
In 1985 it looked like a minor detour — a small, scrappy comedy from a director in career limbo after Paramount pulled the plug on The Last Temptation of Christ — even though it won Scorsese Best Director at Cannes. Now it's fully reappraised as one of his best: a Criterion edition, a Letterboxd darling, and the template for every 'one bad night' movie since.
What's debated
The eternal fan debate: is After Hours Scorsese's secret masterpiece — a film so routinely called 'his most underrated' that people now argue it can't possibly be underrated anymore.
Its footprint
It's the founding text of the 'yuppie nightmare' comedy and the go-to shorthand for any nocturnal, everything-goes-wrong odyssey — 'it's very After Hours' is a working adjective among film fans, and Paul's exasperated 'I just wanted to leave my apartment!' energy is endlessly memed.
Where it stands
A cult object turned canon climber: the consensus deep-cut pick when cinephiles are asked for a non-obvious favorite Scorsese, cemented by its 2023 Criterion release.