What Happens Later, 2023.
Directed by Meg Ryan.
Starring Meg Ryan, David Duchovny, and Hal Liggett.
SYNOPSIS:
Willa and Bill are ex-lovers that will see each other for the first time in years when they both find themselves snowed in, in-transit, at an airport overnight.
Sheltering two former lovers in an airport with flights delayed due to a blizzard is not enough for co-writer/director/star Meg Ryan (working on the script with Steven Dietz and Kirk Lynn), as apparently What Happens Later also needs a blunt, obnoxious gimmick where the speaker voice directing airport traffic is also all-knowing and magically omnipotent, refusing to let the poor weather up so these bickering ex-lovers can board their connecting flights until they reconnect and repair whatever went wrong in their past relationship while reckoning with whether or not they are happy in the present.
This limits the film to one location (occasionally moving around that space to cafés and such), which might make directorial duties more manageable for Meg Ryan (who has only helmed one other film, let alone hasn’t acted much in the past 15 years), but also makes an already rambling slog feel a hell of a lot longer than 103 minutes. There isn’t anything cinematic or dynamic happening here; it’s similar to listening to a podcast, except it’s nearly 2 hours of a fateful meeting between ex-lovers gradually going from small talk to putting their life cards on the table, confronting one another, and trying to make amends.
If any of that wasn’t overly cutesy enough, Meg Ryan and David Duchovny’s characters share nearly identical names; she is Willa, and he is William. Willa has a rain stick in hand, looking to board Boston to catch up with a friend for a cleansing ritual, whereas William is on a work trip, also getting away from his family life, which is currently falling apart (things are rocky with his wife, and he struggles with supporting his teenage daughter’s ambition of becoming a professional dancer.) The blizzard and godlike airport voice (Hal Liggett) have other plans.
Everything in this film is as cliché as it could be, so Willa and William are also opposites, with her an optimist believing in fate, magic, and the future. Meanwhile, William is a cynic spending a sizable fraction of the movie whining about the youth of today and political correctness. From the beginning, neither character is particularly endearing to be around, although it would be unfair to deny that the actors share a watchable chemistry. These are two talented performers stuck with atrocious material. Also, magic is real, considering the hokey, forced, trite, emotionally manipulative moment that pushes William to give in and put more effort into this reconnection.
Aside from that, What Happens Later is a grind of a film where Willa and William slowly reveal the significant events in their lives post-relationship, why they broke up, and in some cases, what they are really at the airport for (a fundamental distinction between trip and journey is brought up early, also figuring into the plot.) It is also stuffed with one too many truly grating scenes of drunken buffoonery once they find out they will be stuck at the airport overnight.
With that said it does feel cruel to dismiss What Happens Later entirely since there is a moderately refreshing element washing a rom-com that’s primarily centered on catching up after 25 years, allowing reliable veteran actors in their older years to tell a story about characters where some aspects will come across relatable to some. The question then is, what the hell is all the magical realism here for, which monumentally sinks whatever believability was present?
There needs to be a tighter script or refined storytelling to tell this tale in one location and make viewers care about what happens later. What Happens Later is so overwritten and cumbersome that it feels like you are there for every minute of that overnight delay rather than a 103-minute movie.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
Originally published December 11, 2023. Updated December 12, 2023.
