Worthless Comeback: Meg Ryan’s comeback in “What Happens Later” is not worth the watch

After an eight-year break from Hollywood, America’s beloved rom-com superstar Meg Ryan stars and directs in her comeback movie “What Happens Later” — and I’m not here for whatever she was trying to do.

As an actress with a forté in cheesy romance movies — starting in “When Harry Met Sally” and “You’ve Got Mail” — I was anticipating something just as good, if not better, than whatever was lazily put together and shown on the AMC screen. 

The whole time I was watching the movie it felt as though I was intruding in a dull conversation between two ordinary people. Maybe it was a new take on the traditional cinematic experience, by casting only two actors or having only one setting, but the direction Ryan was trying to go in didn’t read well with audiences. 

The movie follows two ex-lovers — Willa and Bill — who coincidentally reunite after 25 years of no contact when both are stuck at an airport in the middle of a snowstorm. This duo is reconnected on the rare occasion of leap day which tries to create a theme throughout the whole movie but ends up as a huge underdeveloped factor in the movie. 

Coincidentally every flight is on time except for Willa’s and Bill’s and, of course, this just leads us into another rabbit hole watching the two middle-aged lovers catch up on the past two and a half decades in the most uninteresting and boring way possible. These little snippets of dialogue present unanswered questions about Willa and Bill’s personal life, which is the whole plot of the movie. I’m honestly convinced the movie was solely improvisation because none of the words spoken contributed to any theme of the movie whatsoever.

I had to dig deep to read between the lines and even after the movie I had to Google exactly what exactly happened between Willa and Bill. I prefer to watch movies that have a clear storyline, which is hard to accomplish when the dialogue is only two characters speaking the whole time. Even just some added context between the two when they were together would have made the movie more interesting. 

In the end, I would hope to see this couple get together but I wouldn’t know because if there is ever a sequel to this movie you won’t find me going to watch it. And sure, if you want to watch nearly two hours of awkward small talk between two ex-lovers who haven’t seen each other in 25 years then “What Happens Later” is just the movie for you, but for me, I prefer a more sobby cry-your-eyes-out kind of romance movie.