Rom-com queen Meg Ryan returns in What Happens Later trailer
David Duchovny stars alongside director Meg Ryan in What Happens Later, premiering October 13
Film News Meg
Romantic comedy lovers, our queen has finally returned. After a long hiatus, Meg Ryan—When Harry Met Sally’s Meg Ryan, Sleepless In Seattle’s Meg Ryan—has returned to the genre that made her a household name. And in What Happens Later, which debuts in theaters October 13, Ryan isn’t just the leading lady; she’s also the film’s co-writer and director.
The synopsis is as follows: “Two ex lovers, Bill (David Duchovny) and Willa (Meg Ryan) get snowed in at a regional airport overnight. Indefinitely delayed, Willa, a magical thinker, and Bill, a catastrophic one, find themselves just as attracted to and annoyed by one another as they did decades earlier. But as they unpack the riddle of their mutual past and compare their lives to the dreams they once shared, they begin to wonder if their reunion is mere coincidence, or something more enchanted.”
The trailer portrays a charming second-chance meet-cute with a slightly magical edge (depending on how you view the “Voice of God” over the intercom interacting with our main characters). As the two reconnect and goof off in the empty airport in a sort of mature Mixed Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, they come closer to understanding what really drove them apart in the first place.
Ryan adapted the script from the play Shooting Star by Steven Dietz, co-writing alongside Dietz and Kirk Lynn. She previously tried her hand at directing with the 2016 historical drama Ithaca, but there’s no doubt the romantic comedy feels more in her wheelhouse. “It has a relationship to movies from the ‘40s, like Bringing Up Baby, in terms of the banter and the rhythm of things and a lot of that era of filmmaking,” she told Entertainment Weekly in a recent interview. “Nora Ephron used to say about rom-coms that they were really a secretly incredible delivery system to comment on the times, and we do that in this movie.” Those are some high expectations to live up to, but seeing Meg Ryan as a rom-com heroine again is probably enough of a lure on its own!
28 Comments
I fully understand how shallow and superficial it is to say this, but I just cannot get past Meg Ryan’s botched plastic surgery. Her natural face would have aged so gracefully, I think.Hollywood really does a number on people’s self-image.
I once had a meeting with the head of development at Prufrock, Meg Ryan’s old production company, and when I asked why they hadn’t produced more films she said “Meg lost interest. Plus, the stuff she did to her face….” and it was obvious. “Oh yeah, she’s…different looking now, isn’t she?”
It was so weird to see one 50ish female executive say something that honest about another/their boss/the talent.
How long have you been waiting to post that little tidbit?
This was 2006, so….17 years? Shit I’m old.
That’s fine for that 50is female executive to criticize now, but I’d be more interested to know if she’s used her position to advocate for quality non-mom roles for female actors who are aging naturally.
Fortunately she looks like it’s finally settled into something at least a bit less distracting. Hopefully the same eventually proves true for Courtney Cox.
Here’s the thing, though. Has it ever actually helped anyone?
Like, is there an actress out there going “The phone stopped ringing as soon as I turned 40, but then I got that facelift and now I’m a leading lady again!”
eh, you don’t notice the work turned out bad until it’s too late. i would say every actor (male or female) over…17 is getting work done constantly.
Yeah Botox etc. is completely fine if you start early and don’t overdo it. I’d be pretty surprised if, like, Cate Blanchett and Paul Rudd haven’t had work done. (I expect to do a little myself tbh.)
Facelifts aren’t the problem. It’s the excessive botox and fillers. I’m sure tons and tons of female actors have done well with simple facelifts.
I don’t know who sells these women on the “benefits” of these surgeries, but whoever it is should lose their medical licenses.
It’s frustrating; women in a bunch of industries say cosmetic work is necessary because of sexism and ageism, but it’s not going to get better unless more women say “Enough.” It’s not like men are going to wake up one day and collectively decide they will not longer judge women by their youthful appearance.
eh, if anything i think men will just start getting more cosmetic surgery.
It’s not just men that judge women by their youthful appearance, it’s all of Western culture. We value females for their ability to reproduce, and as a female looses the appearance of fertility, she also looses that intrinsic value to society. Males are valued for their looks as well, but get a second valuation based on their ability to support their offspring. Henry Kissinger said that power is the ultimate aphrodisiac, although I think that aphrodisiac is the wrong adjective here.
Yeah, to hell with her for getting old!
ANOTHER Joker reboot?!
As delightful as it is to have Meg Ryan back in a romcom, it’s equally delightful to see David Duchovny doing something like this.
Yes. He’s most fun when he’s able to have fun.
David Duchovney.
Tom Hanks said “no,” huh?
He didn’t recognize the caller. I am SO sorry. I had NO intention of piling on.
He saw that Meg now has dead eyes, so he opted out.
Tom declined when he realized Meg has ‘dead eyes.’
She basically had to re-age into her face, it looks like.
This looks cute. I’m in for the David Duchovny of it all, and it looks like Meg Ryan is attempting to seem likeable again. The last movie of hers I saw was Kate and Leopold and she was insufferable. Not her fault, necessarily–it was the writing and, oddly, the costuming that played a big role, but her character was utterly charmless there.
From the trailer it at least looks like she’s not playing the same character she seems to play in a lot of rom-coms.
Well if you think Meg Ryan looks bad…
I just kept thinking “why isn’t the camera lingering on her face?” Not just because of whatever she did but because it was just so off-putting. How to engage w the character if you can’t really SEE them? You could see him, but she’s just a wisp then she’s gone again.
Holy crap, David Duchovny’s love interest is actually age appropriate?