Jason_V
Senior HTF Member
Title: What Happens Later (2023)
Tagline: They missed their connection.
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Director: Meg Ryan
Cast: Meg Ryan, David Duchovny
Release: 2023-11-02
Runtime: 105
Plot: Two ex-lovers, Bill and Willa, get snowed in at a regional airport overnight. Indefinitely delayed, Willa, a magical thinker, and Bill, a catastrophic one, find themselves just as attracted to and annoyed by one another as they did decades earlier. But as they unpack the riddle of their mutual past and compare their lives to the dreams they once shared, they begin to wonder if their reunion is mere coincidence, or something more enchanted.I wanted to love What Happens Later. Two good actors stuck in one location for the duration of the movie's running time and they try to work out their history.
On paper, sounds great. Add in Meg Ryan and David Duchovny and it sounds even better.
In execution? Yikes.
Let's start with the obvious: What Happens Later has a very low budget. The New York Times says $3 million...I'm not even sure it was that high. While the two leads, and presumably the other travelers in a small regional airport, are stuck overnight, there is a suspicious lack of other people in the movie. Sure, background extras mill around in some scenes, but during the critical climax of the movie...Ryan and Duchovny are all alone. This makes zero sense (unless, of course, every other traveler got out of the airport during the last minute take offs and every single employee went home).
A low budget isn't a bad thing, per se, but when it interferes with the reality of the movie, I have issues with it.
This movie is also based on a play, which is glaringly obvious. Ryan, as director, star and co-writer, just sets the camera down for seemingly long stretches of time, allowing herself and Duchovny to verbally spar in airport seats facing a window. And in airport seats perpendicular to a window. And in airport restaurant seats. And in airport bar chairs. And in an airport gold cart. You get the point. There's nothing energetic about the directing and the story desperately needs something to liven it up. The two actors can only do so much.
They both try, however. Ryan is a "zany", Austin liberal and Duchovny a more "conservative" financial type. I use those terms in quotes because this doesn't come down to political types; rather, it comes down to personalities. Politics is never mentioned as far as I can tell. (Sidenote: Meg Ryan running around an airport in her socks REALLY freaked me out and I wanted to yell at the screen every time she did it.)
What Happens Later is about missed opportunities in life. It hit me hard in context of the week I've been having and has some excellent points to make about people in relationships. The idea of one person being a ballast and another being a hot air balloon was especially poignant for me and made me recontextualize a lot of things in my mind. But does that make this movie good and recommendable? If you're looking for When Harry Met Sally, this isn't it. This isn't a feel-good Hallmark movie. This is more of an indie where everything doesn't get wrapped up in a nice bow at the end. It's also cold and claustrophobic (on purpose).
On paper, sounds great. Add in Meg Ryan and David Duchovny and it sounds even better.
In execution? Yikes.
Let's start with the obvious: What Happens Later has a very low budget. The New York Times says $3 million...I'm not even sure it was that high. While the two leads, and presumably the other travelers in a small regional airport, are stuck overnight, there is a suspicious lack of other people in the movie. Sure, background extras mill around in some scenes, but during the critical climax of the movie...Ryan and Duchovny are all alone. This makes zero sense (unless, of course, every other traveler got out of the airport during the last minute take offs and every single employee went home).
A low budget isn't a bad thing, per se, but when it interferes with the reality of the movie, I have issues with it.
This movie is also based on a play, which is glaringly obvious. Ryan, as director, star and co-writer, just sets the camera down for seemingly long stretches of time, allowing herself and Duchovny to verbally spar in airport seats facing a window. And in airport seats perpendicular to a window. And in airport restaurant seats. And in airport bar chairs. And in an airport gold cart. You get the point. There's nothing energetic about the directing and the story desperately needs something to liven it up. The two actors can only do so much.
They both try, however. Ryan is a "zany", Austin liberal and Duchovny a more "conservative" financial type. I use those terms in quotes because this doesn't come down to political types; rather, it comes down to personalities. Politics is never mentioned as far as I can tell. (Sidenote: Meg Ryan running around an airport in her socks REALLY freaked me out and I wanted to yell at the screen every time she did it.)
What Happens Later is about missed opportunities in life. It hit me hard in context of the week I've been having and has some excellent points to make about people in relationships. The idea of one person being a ballast and another being a hot air balloon was especially poignant for me and made me recontextualize a lot of things in my mind. But does that make this movie good and recommendable? If you're looking for When Harry Met Sally, this isn't it. This isn't a feel-good Hallmark movie. This is more of an indie where everything doesn't get wrapped up in a nice bow at the end. It's also cold and claustrophobic (on purpose).
