What Happens Later is a Meg Ryan film… she directed it and co-wrote the screenplay so good on her. Too bad she wasn’t able to wrangle one of her old co-stars to be in it with her… such a person would have helped this movie’s rather lethargic pacing and bland characters.

The flick stars Meg Ryan and David Duchovny as old friends who haven’t seen each other in twenty-five years. They are stuck in a small airport during a storm and spend the time reuniting, reminiscing, arguing, and going over old wounds. In a rom-com sort of way.

You know, I bet Tom Hanks would have been a nice guy and come back for her. Or Billy Crystal… he’s not so busy. Or go nuts and get Gillian Anderson to play against Duchovny. This film needed some old, familiar chemistry that Duchovny and Ryan don’t have. Since their characters aren’t all that interesting, they could have used a dollop of nostalgia.

The flick is one long conversation in the same was as the Before films. Whether these two work matters and I just didn’t feel it. And they talk endlessly so there’s not a lot of room to get it wrong.

There’s a third actor in the movie not credited…. God… as voiced by the airport’s all knowing PA system. It’s marginally cute at first having the airport talk to them, but it gets old pretty quickly. It’s a little too clever for this film.

I can see some people getting into this one if the actors and their characters work for them. They didn’t work for me… and the less said about spending a movie in the worst possible place (an airport during an extended layover) the better. Ugh… bad enough when you aren’t stuck listening to someone else’s extended conversation.

Score: 66