Kathryn Hahn cannot remove herself from Kevin Bacon‘s side in I Love Dick. A love story about obsession, the Prime Video series is an instant classic from the start, and the one-season wonder has unfortunately been swept under the rug in an era of endless television. Hahn plays a raunchy, lusty woman losing her mind for Kevin Bacon, who is the object of all her desires. Griffin Dune co-stars to round out the unhinged love triangle, and the three actors create a wild extravaganza of desire in the barren Texas desert.
I Love Dick is created by Joey Soloway, the mastermind responsible behind the mega-hit and fellow Prime Video series, Transparent. Here, they adapt the novel under the same name written by Chris Kraus, which was published in 1997, in part inspired by Kraus’s life and her marriage. Debuting in 2017, I Love Dick consists of a total of eight episodes. The series is the perfect blend between romance, comedy, and drama, and was critically acclaimed. In the years since, Hahn has found herself in an even brighter television spotlight, thanks to her work in the Marvel universe as Agatha Harkness in WandaVision and Hulu’s Tiny, Beautiful Things. But, Hahn’s performance in I Love Dick is unmatched as a sex-crazed woman, using Kevin Bacon as her one true muse.
What is ‘I Love Dick’ About?
I Love Dick stars Kathryn Hahn as Chris Kraus, an aspiring filmmaker who has never broken through to the mainstream. When her husband, Sylvère (Dune), gets accepted to be sponsored on a fellowship in small-town Texas with the elusive and acclaimed artist, Dick (Bacon), they settle down to stay there for 6 weeks after yet another one of Chris’s films falls through. Once there, Chris is instantly drawn to Dick and his reserved persona and gets sucked into an endless obsession. She begins to write unsent letters to Dick, fantasizing about being with him and revealing her deepest, sexual fantasies. As her infatuation gets out of hand and disrupts the lives of fellow artists and town members, she goes on a journey of self-discovery. A phenominal Roberta Colindrez plays the local artist, Devon, who discovers Chris’s letters and decides to write a play about it, dragging in more artists to help expose the craziness of a self-hating woman learning to love herself.
Kathyrn Hahn Plays a Thirsty Filmmaker Having an Artistic Awakening
Kevin Bacon is the man of Kathryn Hahn’s dream, and he is a dream himself as an effortlessly cool cowboy, refusing her lust. What makes I Love Dick such an exceptional show, is its celebration of female desire, and it’s rich with the female gaze. Chris is a hot mess of a woman, and her horniness is unmatched. Hahn plays Chris as a jumble of nerves, and she is so awkward around Dick it’s painful at times to watch. Turning her into an exasperating conundrum, Hahn makes her so loveable and hard to watch all at once. She’s not confident, but unapologetically herself. Desperate for a man’s attention, she discovers her self-love along the way instead.
Hahn and Bacon harness screwball comedy energy in all their interactions, and every single one of them ends in catastrophe. One such painful interaction finds Chris begging Dick to let her audit his class. Both Hahn and Bacon refuse to rush through the comedic material, and Hahn’s physical comedy is excruciating to watch as she can barely get her computer out of her bag due to nerves. As Dick watches the video, Chris reaches forward and runs her hands through his hair, and it’s by far one of the cringiest, but palpable moments in the series. Bacon plays Dick like a stone wall, and his distaste for Chris is written all over his face. He’s the perfect straight to Hahn’s unhinged, and despite the unrequited love, their chemistry is raw, real, and ravenous.
Kevin Bacon is a Cowboy Muse Women Thirst After in ‘I Love Dick’
Kevin Bacon has always been cool, but he’s never been more cool than as an elusive artist who represents the lust in a town made up of artistic women. He is the symbol of everyone’s desire and the symbol of the universal man, and how every single woman has her own unique experience of discovering her desires. Bacon’s wardrobe is more like his uniform, wearing jeans, big bulky belts, cowboy boots, and cowboy hats. It’s his armor, playing an inaccessible man who uses his tough guy persona to hide the fact that he’s terrified of vulnerability.
The various directors of I Love Dick film Bacon with a hyper-aware sensitivity, highlighting the never-ending attention Chris gives him. Filming him in slow-motion, walking down the street shirtless, holding a baby goat, or zooming in on his lips licking a rolled cigarette, we get to experience Chris’s lust alongside her. One shot that the series returns to again and again is a naked Dick sitting on his couch with a blanket draped over him. He is the ultimate muse, in an ironic pose that has been used to shoot women as the object of men’s desire in film for centuries, like Kate Winslet as Rose in Titanic for instance.
Dick himself is rude, sexy, and dangerous all at once. Bacon plays him like a live wire, threatening to go off as Chris drives him crazy once she begins showing him and the townspeople her letters to him. No longer does he have control over his narrative and how people see him. Completely unfamiliar with being oggled and chased after, he’s placed outside of his comfort zone and the womanizing man he likes to be. His cold demeanor is brutal as he chews out lines to Chris like, “I don’t find you interesting. Not now, not ever.” Bacon gets drunk, chucks pool balls at regulars, and loses his mind over a woman who refuses to stifle her wants.
‘I Love Dick’ Is a Celebration of Female Desire
Aside from the three central performances by Hahn, Bacon, and Dunne, the writing is excellent in I Love Dick, carrying themes of sexual discovery, artistic creativity, and the oppressive nature of men putting their own needs over women. As Chris refuses to stop using Dick as her muse, she finally gets to explore her own desires. When her husband and Dick form a bond over calling her crazy, they deny that they are the problem in any way. Instead, they try to plot how to “fix” her. It’s a tale as old as time, shaming women for celebrating their sexual liberation.
Finally, allowing the female gaze to take hold and having a male be the muse for an artist, I Love Dick changed all the rules. For once, women are not the objects acted upon but instead the ones doing the acting. As Chris becomes more liberated through Dick, she becomes herself. Hahn is a force of nature, whether she’s shoving down 16 tacos in a manic rage or stalking Dick through a crowded room. Here, Kevin Bacon is the representation of women’s pure, unadulterated desires. The series is steamy, sensual, and pushes every boundary. As he confesses he’s humiliated by Chris’s declaration of lust, he finally is forced out of his cowboy boots, and must walk a mile in a woman’s shoes. It’s a shame I Love Dick was cancelled after one season, but this out-of-the-box comedy is Hahn’s most underrated television role and arguably her best.
I Love Dick is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S.
WATCH ON PRIME VIDEO.