Movie Review: 'What Happens Later'

What Happens Later (2023)

Directed by Meg Ryan

Written by Meg Ryan, Steven Dietz, Kirk Lynn

Starring Meg Ryan, David Duchovny

Release Date November 3rd, 2023

Published November 6th, 2023

What Happens Later stars Meg Ryan as Willa and David Duchovny as William or Bill, depending on how well you know him. Some of the time he's known as W. Davis and, by coincidence, Willa's last name is also Davis. Hence they are both W. Davis. This is something that the movie finds adorable though it didn't mean much to me. Regardless, both W. Davis' are in a Midwest airport in the midst of a massive weather event and they are going to be stuck here overnight as the airport shuts down and somehow leaves only them behind.

That both W. Davis and W. Davis happen to be ex-lovers with a lengthy and notable romantic history from their early 20s in Madison, Wisconsin, is another thing all together. When we meet these adorable travelers each is trying to avoid seeing the other. They recognize each other at different points and each tries to hide from the other without success. When they do connect they will spend the rest of the day connected, bickering back and forth about their past, their present and their future destinations. They will spend the next 24 hours going over their past and revealing things about themselves and how two people can share the same experience and still see what happened entirely different.

Willa is on her way to Boston from her home in Austin, Texas. On the other hand, Bill is on his way to Austin from his home in Boston. Weird and cute right? Willa claims that she's going to Boston to visit an old friend and perform a cleansing ceremony for her but that's a lie that will be revealed later. Bill is heading to Austin for a meeting with his millennial boss who he cannot understand because the millennial speaks about safe spaces and doesn't like saying no. It's the kind of boomer reductive idea of millennials that has been tired for quite a long time.

Anyway, once we've gotten past the clichés about her being a hippie and him being a bit of a conservative, What Happens Later gets much, much better. A sort of magical realism settles over the movie in the second act where the two are separated from the real world and they dig into the deeper aspects of their past, their present, and the future they still hope to have, not necessarily involving each other. It's a wonderful, fruitful, and often fascinating conversation between two attractive and charismatic actors.

What Happens Later is based on a stage play and you can sense how stagebound the material is in the way Ryan, as director, works diligently to make uncinematic material into something more dynamic for the big screen. She doesn't always succeeds but she succeeds enough to make the film visually interesting beyond just mooning over our lovey dovey movie stars. What Ryan can't escape however, are the audience perception that this should be Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks and not Meg Ryan and insert movie star here, aka David Duchovny.

This is not David Duchovny's fault. He gives the role all that he has but he's not a natural romantic actor. Ryan draws a great deal out of him but it's impossible not to imagine her having this all night, filled with history conversation with Hanks. This is not a Sleepless in Seattle or You've Got Mail style rom-com per se, but the big beating heart of What Happens Later has a similar longing to it, elements of rom-com that echo from that Nora Ephron style. That plus Ryan in a rom-com, just make the comparison to Hanks and the desire to see Meg and Tom together again inevitable and something that this relatively slight film cannot quite compete with.

If you can get past your own Hanks-based biases though, there is charm and depth in the later moments of What Happens Later. There is a lovely fantasy dance sequence that I truly adored and the chemistry of Ryan and Duchovy reaches a lovely place, one familiar to anyone who longs to have one more conversation with that person you consider 'the one that got away.' If you are someone who carries a history with a romantic partner that you are no longer with, this movie has a warm and fuzzy feel that puts a nice, cathartic bow on past love.

I enjoyed What Happens Later enough to recommend it. It compares nicely to Ryan's past work, it demonstrates an adventurousness as a director, a willingness to embrace magical realism while being dedicated to her characters as realistic people, and it's deftly paced, strong enough to satisfy on most levels. The film falls short of greatness but there is elegance in the effort and enough charm that you will not be disappointed by What Happens Later. The film lands well as a late in life partner to Ryan's previous rom-com canon while also demonstrating a growth and maturity that only comes from lived experience.

Find my archive of more than 20 years and nearly 2000 movie reviews at SeanattheMovies.blogspot.com. Find my modern review archive on my Vocal Profile, linked here. Follow me on Twitter at PodcastSean. Follow the archive blog on Twitter at SeanattheMovies. Listen to me talk about movies on the I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast. If you have enjoyed what you have read, consider subscribing to my writing on Vocal. If you'd like to support my writing, you can do so by making a monthly pledge or by leaving a one time tip. Thanks!