During a snowstorm, exes Wilhemena "Willa" Davis (Meg Ryan) and William "Bill" Davis (David Duchovny) are rerouted to an airport interrupting their trips to Boston and Austin respectively. As the two meet by chance in the terminal and must wait for a break in the weather, the two converse catching up on what's happened in the intervening 25 years rekindling old sparks and opening old wounds.
What Happens Later marks the return of actress Meg Ryan to acting having taken a hiatus from working since we last saw her in 2015's Ithaca (which Ryan produced and directed). Directed and co-written by Ryan, the film is a loose adaptation of Steven Dietz' stage play Shooting Star who also serves as credited co-writer alongside Ryan and Kirk Lynn. Made for a modest $3 million What Happens Later underperformed opening in ninth place and only making $3.3 million over the course of its entire run and when accounting for marketing expenses was a significant disappointment. Critical reception was mixed with critics praising the leads while several and much of the audience had issues with the characters and narrative. While I appreciate the experimentation in place in tackling the romantic comedy genre from a different angle, What Happens Later ends up feeling like you're stuck with two unpleasant people at an airport with no means of escape.
While Meg Ryan and David Duchovny certainly have chemistry that shines through from their initial encounter in the concourse that serves as the primary setting for our story, the movie makes the characters they play less and less appealing with each passing moment as the more I learned about them the less I liked them as their exchanges playing broad stereotypes from either end of the political spectrum (with Ryan's character a new age liberal and Duchovny's a rigid practical conservative more aligned with the 80s or 90s than modern conservatism) and the fact that these are the only two characters in this movie (save for Hal Liggett's airport announcer who actually responds to direct questions from the two in a "quirky" way) means there is no respite from the abrasiveness of these characters nor are they interesting enough to justify how much time we spend with them. I'll admit I know very little about the play Shooting Star, but I did look up some broad notes about it such as it being roughly 60-70 minutes long and taking place in 2006 rather than modern day as What Happens Later does. If this material were shorter and taking place in 2006 I could maybe see it being better than this as it quickly wears out its welcome at 100 minutes, but this is all speculation on my part so for all I know the play has similar issues for me.
I honestly didn't expect much from What Happens Later, but even by the lowest standards of the rom-com which have been ever lowed thanks to the genre's oversaturation through outlets like Hallmark this fell well short of the points I look for in a movie like this. I was restless almost from the half-hour mark as the movie slowly stretched its way to 100 minutes with the ever accumulating bitterness and unpleasantness making this a sure fire way for date night to end up in a break-up.
What Happens Later marks the return of actress Meg Ryan to acting having taken a hiatus from working since we last saw her in 2015's Ithaca (which Ryan produced and directed). Directed and co-written by Ryan, the film is a loose adaptation of Steven Dietz' stage play Shooting Star who also serves as credited co-writer alongside Ryan and Kirk Lynn. Made for a modest $3 million What Happens Later underperformed opening in ninth place and only making $3.3 million over the course of its entire run and when accounting for marketing expenses was a significant disappointment. Critical reception was mixed with critics praising the leads while several and much of the audience had issues with the characters and narrative. While I appreciate the experimentation in place in tackling the romantic comedy genre from a different angle, What Happens Later ends up feeling like you're stuck with two unpleasant people at an airport with no means of escape.
While Meg Ryan and David Duchovny certainly have chemistry that shines through from their initial encounter in the concourse that serves as the primary setting for our story, the movie makes the characters they play less and less appealing with each passing moment as the more I learned about them the less I liked them as their exchanges playing broad stereotypes from either end of the political spectrum (with Ryan's character a new age liberal and Duchovny's a rigid practical conservative more aligned with the 80s or 90s than modern conservatism) and the fact that these are the only two characters in this movie (save for Hal Liggett's airport announcer who actually responds to direct questions from the two in a "quirky" way) means there is no respite from the abrasiveness of these characters nor are they interesting enough to justify how much time we spend with them. I'll admit I know very little about the play Shooting Star, but I did look up some broad notes about it such as it being roughly 60-70 minutes long and taking place in 2006 rather than modern day as What Happens Later does. If this material were shorter and taking place in 2006 I could maybe see it being better than this as it quickly wears out its welcome at 100 minutes, but this is all speculation on my part so for all I know the play has similar issues for me.
I honestly didn't expect much from What Happens Later, but even by the lowest standards of the rom-com which have been ever lowed thanks to the genre's oversaturation through outlets like Hallmark this fell well short of the points I look for in a movie like this. I was restless almost from the half-hour mark as the movie slowly stretched its way to 100 minutes with the ever accumulating bitterness and unpleasantness making this a sure fire way for date night to end up in a break-up.