Because of the Labor Day holiday there aren’t any notable mainstream movies coming out (unless you happen to be a One Direction fan). So if you’re not planning to spend the weekend standing behind a barbecue, check out one of these films in limited release instead.

THE LIFEGUARD

Director: Liz W. Garcia
Starring: Kristen Bell, Martin Starr, Mamie Gummer, Joshua Harto
Can you go home again? The first film from television writer Liz W. Garcia (who wrote episodes of Dawson’s Creek, Cold Case, and Memphis Beat), The Lifeguard stars Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) as a twenty-something woman who quits her job in New York to move back to the town she grew up in and takes up her old summer job in an attempt to turn back the clock. Kristen Bell fans will likely enjoy it, but the horrid reviews will likely scare away other viewers.

PASSION

Director: Brian De Palma
Starring: Rachel McAdams, Noomi Rapace, Paul Anderson, Karoline Herfurth
Few directors in film history can do thrilling like Brian De Palma, but when I saw Passion (which is a remake of the 2010 French film Love Crime) almost a year ago at the New York Film Festival I wasn’t impressed (most critics have given it so-so reviews). Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace lock horns as businesswomen after the same ideal promotion and the same man. McAdams is unbelievably striking on the screen in her manipulative role, but the film’s “thrilling” plot falls apart rather messily.

AFTERNOON DELIGHT

Director: Jill Soloway
Stars: Kathryn Hahn, Juno Temple, Josh Radnor, Jane Lynch
Afternoon Delight is the first feature film from television writer/producer Jill Soloway (who has written episodes of Six Feet Under and United States of Tara) and stars longtime funny supporting actress Kathryn Hahn (Step Brothers, Anchorman) in a leading role. Hahn plays an idle suburban housewife who meets a young stripper (Juno Temple) and thinks she can “save” her. I guess everyone has a different way of solving boredom, right? Soloway won the Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival for her work.

I DECLARE WAR

Director: Jason Lapeyre & Robert Wilson
Starring: Siam Yu, Kolton Stewart, Gage Munroe. Michael Friend
Though “kids with guns” is obviously a touchy subject, I Declare War is about the power of imagination when a group of young kids playing Capture the Flag with sticks for guns imagine themselves on vast battlefields full of destruction with real weaponry. As a result, the audience sees the kids at play in both the real world and on their dream-like battlefields. It’s a really clever concept that shows how seriously kids take their playtime.

OUR NIXON (Documentary)

Director: Penny Lane
While President Richard Nixon is mostly vilified by history (and terrible portrayals by John Cusack in The Butler!), his closest friends and advisors — including those who were convicted in the Watergate scandal — had a deep affinity for a man they felt was misunderstood. Our Nixon looks at newly unearthed Super 8 movies of Nixon outside of his office in his private life and gives a more human portrait of a man that many only know from history books.

ABIGAIL HARM

Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Starring: Tetsuo Kuramochi, Will Patton, Amanda Plummer, Burt Young
Though Abigail Harm is only opening at The Quad in New York City this weekend, interest in the film suggests that it will likely expand soon. Inspired by the Korean folktale “The Woodcutter and the Nymph,” Abigail (Amanda Plummer) is a loner who lives in New York City who has attachment issues. She is given a wish, and though she wishes for love it’s not exactly what she wished for.

WHAT WOULD BEAR DO?

Director: Fritz Brekeller & Josh Folan
Starring: Phil Burke, Josh Folan, Rick Montgomery Jr., Molly Fahey, Graci Carli, Avery Pearson
Here’s a rule about camping: if you’re not an experienced camper, don’t go too far from civilization. What Would Bear Do? is a comedy about two dimwits who decide to make their own survival documentary in the hopes that they will impress their favorite survivalist television star. Of course, bringing their girlfriends along probably makes the situation a lot more difficult to imagine, especially since their knowledge of survival seems entirely drawn from reality shows. Sounds like it could definitely be very funny.

Other notable weekend indie, foreign & documentary releases:
INSTRUCTIONS NOT INCLUDED
APPROACHING MIDNIGHT
AMERICAN MADE MOVIE (Documentary)
SATAN, HOLD MY HAND