There cannot, surely, be many humans who have more earned the right to make their own romantic comedy than Meg Ryan. Forever linked with the greatest-ever entry in the genre – as well as more than a couple of not-so-great entries – she should by well versed in what makes them tick.
The good news is that, on the surface at least, What Happens Later has more in common with said greatest ever entry into the genre than it does with, say, My Mom’s New Boyfriend.
So, as with When Harry Met Sally (what, you thought I meant You’ve Got Mail?), the two protagonists in Ryan’s second ever film as a director bump into each other at an airport. And as with When Harry Met Sally, the action, such as it is, consists of the two leads talking: here as they amble around the (bizarrely, completely deserted airport), waiting for their flights to be rescheduled due to a snowstorm.
Turns out that they are exes. Slowly but surely, we find out why. It won’t come as a surprise to learn that it was complicated. Nor that there is still something of a spark there.
What Ryan clearly knows is that a film such as this lives or dies by the chemistry of its actors. And in that respect, the pairing of herself with David Duchovny is a good one. Both are lesser-seen-these-days titans of the Nineties who know how to inject charm and charisma into every shot.
That is even when the dialogue – which features plenty of chit chattery about not very much – is often far from Nora Ephron smart (the film, incidentally, is dedicated to the late screenwriter of When Harry Met Sally, who also went on to also write and direct Sleepless In Seattle: in other words, someone to whom Meg Ryan owes a great deal).
Thematically, this is a film that is as much about getting older and reflective and sad and more tired of life, as it is about love, and as such one that – entirely intentionally, you suspect – will pleasantly resonate with anyone who devoured the work of David Duchovny and Meg Ryan in their glory days.
There is a fair bit of bonding between the two over how annoying they find lots of millennial/Gen Z traits these days, and there are people of their era-specific cultural references aplenty. What Happens Later is not a masterwork by any means… but nor is it an unpleasant way to spend an hour and a half over the Christmas period.
In cinemas from Friday
Cert 15, 104 mins
