What Happens Next

A good cast and good acting is what kept this story afloat, as unlikely as the plot seemed. Most young gay guys would never consider dating a much older man. Here we have an age gap of at least 30 years. So what we end up with is a very contrived romance comedy of sorts. Many gay themed movies have had "out" characters who insist that anyone they intend to date has to be totally comfortable with public displays of over affection. I think it's completely rational to expect discretion in public spaces by refraining from strong statements of affection. As is typical, in this movie, we have the young gay character demanding that his older, romantic partner be willing to publicly display their affection for one another, or else it's a no go. Sounds more like an unreasonable spoiled brat to me. Still....a cute movie with good acting, good production values and worth watching at least once.

Difficult to be very critic about this real sweet comedy. The crisis of middle age for a CEO guy who decides, in correct measure, to sell his company and begin a new life. And a gift from his sister, changing, in real sense, his life.

Sure, difficult to know what represents this new, but exactly the fair mix of humor, tension,talks in park of two dog owners , drops of homophobia and expectations of others, the pretty boy as new chance to happiness are the good pieces of this film, charming for performances and for not exactly bad story , pure entertainment and seductive trip of a real unconventional couple.

So, pretty nice sounds fair as honest definition for this What Happens Next.

Wendy Malick, who plays Elise (and for some reason I can't see credited in the cast list above … maybe she didn't want her name associated with this movie??) was about the only central character in this film who was believable, although at times even she seemed to be overplaying her role.

Paul is in his fifties and has no inkling that he's gay. Right. He's been a successful businessman who just sold his business and is a bit at a loss as to what he's going to do now that he's retired. He meets Andy, who is in his twenties, in the park. Andy strikes up a conversation with Paul. Paul acts like this is the first person he's ever met. He's unable to respond to even the simplest questions without long pauses. I mean does it really take 15 seconds for a successful businessman to come up with a response to, "ok if I sit here?" and other things normal people can react to without a thought? And the twenty year old Andy falls in love with the 55 year old Paul who can't seem to carry on the simplest conversation, seems to be really uptight & uncomfortable about anything gay, is nearly twice his age and Andy isn't even sure Paul is gay … right.

The characters, their interactions, the dialogue and the inconsistencies in their behavior are all difficult to believe. What happens next or in this case what happens at the end of the movie, is a bit difficult to swallow as well.

Some funny moments … the dogs are cute … but I spent most of the movie feeling uncomfortable about it all and, what I assume was supposed to be a happy ending didn't relieve this discomfort.

I've been waiting for this movie for a long time. It is far from stellar execution, but certainly not the worst for a low budget film. The script could be cleaned up a bit. The acting isn't great and a few shots could have used a few more takes to make them more real and believable.

Overall, I can't complain about the total experience. The main content of the film should be familiar to absolutely anyone who has been apart of a gay relationship. The reality is that different people are at different stages of coming out given any couple. This puts a strain on the relationship.

This movie explores how this can evolve and how both sides are responsible for the problems caused by having a justified unwillingness to compromise on how public the relationship should be. The pacing may feel slow to people used to blockbusters, but it suits the film just right as it lets the relationship develop and breathe at the appropriate speed considering the circumstances.

Maybe in today's age this is becoming less of an issue, but any gay couple should easily relate to and find real truth in this unique romance.

The idea of the film is very good, the story is very good. Those are the only good things about it. Bad photography, poor actor direction (you can see the actors are good but aren't being led in the right way), the story is full of gaps - situations and characters that lack development -, the dialogs are sometimes artificial, the soundtrack is badly used - you barely notice it, in a bad way -, errors in continuity (you see the characters eating but the plate stays full throughout the scene), reflections of studio light on the walls, misfit colors (filtering?). It could have been and should have been so much better. What a waste of wonderful plot...