Rent What Happens Later (2023)

Ok RomCom - What Happens Later review by GI

Stage play adaptations are risky affairs because, for me, it's a difficult transition from the stage to the bigger and more ambitious medium of cinematic film and it often doesn't work and I'm not sure it does here. But the film does have some interesting moments and with Meg Ryan co-writing, directing and starring after an acting hiatus there's a pleasure of seeing her give this her all, a clear passion piece. Set in the transitional space of a US airport, snowed in passengers are stranded including Ryan's Willa and David Duchovny's Bill. By pure chance the two were former lovers many years ago and are now forced together where old feelings and disputes are unravelled. This is basically a romcom, Ryan's most enduring genre, although there's more rom than com. It's a two hander narrative as Willa and Bill talk their way through their past and current situations. Ryan adds an element of fantasy to the drama that occasionally makes you question the situation and I'm not fully convinced that works well here, and the gimmick of the airport tannoy messages seeming to talk just to them is distracting. This is an example of where a film makes you yearn for the stage play as it's clear this is a story best told in a theatre rather than up on a cinema screen and the occasional switch to an external view of the snowy airport doesn't make this anymore interesting.