‘What Happens Later’ Is a Fun Directorial Take from Meg Ryan on an Okay Script

The appeal of Meg Ryan in the world of romantic comedies can only take an alright script so far. Seeing the nearly two-hour runtime of a film like What Happens Later can make that allure die down relatively quickly.

With this film, we’re asked a simple question: What if two college lovers meet again 25+ years later in an airport when their connections get delayed? Ryan’s Willamina Davis and David Duchovny’s William Davis are both stranded during a storm and are forced to reconnect with each other by the god voice of the airport. But a runtime that’s too long and a complicated backstory make this a movie that drags too much at times when it could have been so much more.

The premise is simple: They’re stuck, their two planes are the only two not getting out, and they are forced to reconnect in order to go on their merry ways to Austin and Boston. Ryan’s direction is cute and fine, even though it doesn’t make sense at times, but it’s the script that really just ends up stale and frustrating. Well, that and the scene where Duchovny’s shirt is untucked and then tucked in and then untucked and then tucked back in again all within 5 seconds.

A cute film that is just a little too long

The script itself isn’t bad; it’s a cute idea. The issue comes from the out-of-nowhere lines that have you asking “what?” in the middle of scenes, which does boil down to Ryan’s characterization. Her character is supposed to be into “zen” things, and it allows the script to go off the rails in ways that don’t really work at times. She is a healer, has a rain stick, and according to Bill, the way she “acts” is why he broke up with her.

Sometimes, she’ll be making a lot of sense talking about their past relationship. Then she will suddenly say something he never said and pretend like he just said it, Bill will be rightfully confused, and she will say, “See, you’re not listening,” and then the script loses you again. At other times, the movie does work, and when it does click, it’s because Duchovny pulls out his charms or Ryan is turning on the romcom abilities she’s known for.

If this movie were shorter, it would maybe be perfect, but setting it in the airport and forcing the same conversations to happen in a circle just becomes redundant. Sure, it’s not longer than a Nora Ephron romantic comedy (who the film was dedicated to), but the singular setting just makes it feel so exhausting. After a while, it’s a real moment of “We get it,” and while a talky romantic comedy is some of the best and Ryan is the best to do it, this is just not the script or setting for it.

Still worth your time

I’m not saying that What Happens Later is a movie to ignore. Seeing Meg Ryan in a romantic comedy is a treat to us all. It’s just a lot of stuff to weed through to get to the good stuff. There’s no reason there are about five extra layers of tragedy to their backstory that just keeps growing throughout the movie. Sometimes, it feels very much like “and another thing” when you’re watching it.

It is, unfortunately, the kind of movie that you’ll probably want to watch some day when you’re sitting around and thinking of romantic comedies you could put on and think to yourself “Oh, that wasn’t that bad,” but then not think about it again. It’s not the grand comeback that we all wanted it to be, but it’s also not bad. As a fan of Ryan’s work, particularly her work with Ephron, as someone who watched them all with my father who loved romantic comedies most of all, this is one of those movies that I just wish condensed its story and made it a bit more easy.

There are so many additional layers for no real reason, and we don’t need so many tragic backstories for W. Davis and W. Davis.

(featured image: Bleecker Street)