What Happens Later – Film Review
Published November 29, 2023
Movie Details
From a charismatic and smile-inducing presence on screen in the heydays of romcom era to donning the director’s hat, Meg Ryan has seemingly endeavored to keep her cherished genre relevant. However, with her recent outing in What Happens Later, which she also co-wrote and stars in, one has to concede that this pursuit unfortunately lands on turbulent terrain.
This frostily paced romantic comedy begins with a premise rife with promise – the leads, Willa (Meg Ryan) and Bill (David Duchovny), both successful in their respective lives but nursing their heartache, find their paths crossing due to a fateful flight delay triggered by a snowstorm. Trapped within the sprawling confines of an airport, they reluctantly revisit their past, sparking off old resentments and bittersweet memories. A script co-written by Ryan, Steven Dietz, and Kirk Lynn evidently aimed for emotional depth in this setting, but the resulting execution fell wide of the mark.
Duchovny brings a sober sensibility to his character Bill, as he balances a veneer of stoicism with bouts of heartfelt regret. Yet his chemistry with Ryan feels misaligned. The charm of their mismatched pairing, an attribute so coveted in romcoms, does not hold the intended effect in What Happens Later. They float along their roles rather than absorbing them, casting the nostalgic revival of their old spark as more laborious than luminous.
As a leading lady, Ryan is as sparkling as ever, conveying the confused sentiments of her character with poise and grace. Yet, she seems more involved in ensuring a pleasing aesthetic than focusing on her character’s development. The camera has a profound adoration for her, as if attempting to retrieve the romantic-comedy queen aura she used to project in the 90s. However, this celebration of her charisma inadvertently stagnates the intended plot progression, rendering it inconsistent and inadequate.
What Happens Later could have benefitted from more spirited dialogue that broke through the visual surface to capture the subtle awkwardness and innate familiarity of re-encountering a loved one. However, Ryan, Dietz, and Lynn’s dialogues wobble and lurch like a plane caught in bad weather, steering clear from earnest emotionality while feeling awkwardly repetitive at times.
The directorial treatment lacked nuance and veered more towards predictability. For instance, several moments meant to reflect romantic tension simply unravel into extensive shots of Ryan’s wistful expressions or Duchovny’s brooding stare. The climactic scenes which ideally should evoke strong emotion come off as hastily wound-up threads.
However, What Happens Later manages to stand its ground through an astutely presented setting. The expanse of the airport is beautifully photographed, emphasizing a certain gloomy allure to it. Each desolate and gleaming hallway encapsulates the loneliness and uncertainties that these ex-lovers grapple with. Similarly, the accompanying score beautifully oscillates between sentimental strains and comic beats.
In essence, What Happens Later represents a labor of love from Meg Ryan. Yet, the lack of cogency in storytelling, bland dialogues, and imbalanced character portrayals sabotage this well-intentioned attempt at revisiting the past through a modern lens. Even the genuine moments get muddled within a pile of clichéd scenes. The occasional comic notes hit their mark, but not consistently enough to offset the otherwise heavy-handedness of the narrative.
Ryan’s earnest direction shows promise but succumbs to style over substance. If the film traded its obsession with beautiful frames for narrative depth, it could have easily turned out as a relatable romantic comedy instead of a glossy, but superficial tour of past heartbreaks.
What Happens Later is a flight that certainly takes off with great promise, but, hampered by ill-defined emotional direction and poor chemistry between the leads, never really soars high enough to hit the nostalgic or romantic mark it aims for.