What Happens Later (2023)

Not the first time Jack and I have ignored bad reviews but usually we're rewarded. I really wanted to love this rom-com but ... meh. Meg Ryan directs, stars, co-wrote, and co-produces a story about ex-lovers who get snowed in at a midwest airport decades after they broke up. David Duchovny is her co-star, a tightly wound Bill in contrast to her Willa, an aging hippie with flowing hair and wardrobe, crystals, etc. The pacing is strange––it jumps back and forth from some pretty good jokes to their bickering to their enjoying each other. My not liking her character didn't help.

Ryan's co-writer is Kirk Lynn, and the script is adapted from Steven Dietz' 2008 play Shooting Star. Bill's character says he suffers from anticipatory anxiety. I looked it up and it's a real thing. One description says it's "bleeding before you are cut."

David Boman's score, occasionally verging on syrupy, is on Apple Music. The movie was shot in Bentonville, Arkansas, at both the Northwest Arkansas National Airport and the Crystal Bridges Museum. We did like the sets.

Duchovny was last blogged for You People (panned by critics but we liked it a lot). Some of my favorites of Ryan's many acting credits are the obvious: When Harry Met Sally (1989), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), and You've Got Mail (1998), and the not so obvious When a Man Loves a Woman (1994) and French Kiss (1995). I mentioned her briefly in my post about the remake of The Women, which went on to earn her a shared nomination for Worst Actress in the 2009 Razzie Awards. This is her second directing gig and feature screenwriting debut for her and Lynn. 

Rotten Tomatoes' critics don't much care what happens later with a 49% average and its audiences hated it at 28. We rented it on Apple TV on March 5.