WHAT HAPPENS LATER (2023)

Genre: Comedy/Romantic
Director: Meg Ryan
Cast: Meg Ryan, David Duchovny
Runtime: 1 hr 44 mins
Rating: NC16 (Some Coarse Language and Drug)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 21 December 2023

Synopsis: Two ex-lovers, Bill (David Duchovny) and Willa (Meg Ryan), 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.

Movie Review:

“It was a dark and snowy night”.

That’s probably how Snoopy is going to start his movie review of What Happens Later.

American’s sweetheart Meg Ryan co-wrote, directs and stars opposite David Duchovny in this romantic comedy based on Steven Dietz’s 2008 play, Shooting Star. It has been eight long years since we last saw her on the big screen. But we are confident boomers and Generation X will still be thrilled to see her in yet another rom-com.

Anyway, former lovers, Bill and Willa are stranded in a domestic airport after a storm of the century hits on a leap day where they both met again after a span of over 20 years. Before long, they starts to bicker and banter about what exactly happened to the downfall of their relationship while waiting for their flight out to Austin and Boston respectively.

Honestly, there isn’t much going on in the entire story. Basically for nearly two hours, it’s like watching two old friends chatting on the screen with the occasional interruption of the airport announcements. Topics range from their past dreams to their lost child to Willa’s supposedly promiscuous behavior that lead to their parting. And then it’s back to Bill’s current marital status which is kind of separated though he is more concerned about his teenage daughter’s welfare and future while Willa seems to be drifting in life as a freelance wellness practitioner.

It's a whole lot of relationship woes and a truckload of miscommunication and regrets. Stuff that we can certainly comprehend in our course of life. However despite the well-meaning story, there’s little to no significant happenings in the movie to qualify as either romantic or comedic. In fact, it’s pretty laborious and cumbersome by the first hour. There’s a cutesy scene where the leads rode an airport buggy to the tune of English rock band, The Lightning Seeds’ Pure though unlikely to invoke much romantic inclination.

Cinematically, it doesn’t even really help when the characters are stuck in a singular location with cartoonish CGI snowflakes in the backdrop as they continue their ongoing bantering from the gate area to a diner and then to a bar and vice versa. At least, The Terminal has an interesting story to tell and of course there is Tom Hanks. Speaking of the latter, Duchovny seems like a poor choice for the male lead because for the most part, he kind of dressed and behaved like Fox Mulder on his day off. Theoretically, Hanks probably fits the role better.

As a tribute to the late Nora Ephron (writer of rom-com gems, When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle and personal favourite, You’ve Got Mail), Ryan’s second directing effort is a complete misfire. There’s simply a lack of energy, a sense of playfulness to the reunion of two former lovers. Bill’s constant nagging of music choices from the airport speakers doesn’t help. Willa’s writings on her combat boot is weird. Transferring a stage play to the big screen simply doesn’t work unless you have a certain magic touch or skillset. Sadly, it’s a rejection slip for Ryan this time round not Snoopy.

Movie Rating:

(What Happens Later shouldn’t even happen)

Review by Linus Tee