What Happens Next

I gave this movie a 2 because at times Wendy Malick was watchable. The rest was painful at best. The dialogue is horrible and trite. The acting wasn't nearly good enough to save the dialogue. The characters were false and empty at best. They were either boring and made no sense or over the top and made no sense. All in all - OUCH! The premise was interesting, but there wasn't enough motivation to move the story along. I think the writer might have been trying for one of those quirky, independent, everyone is connected whether they know it or not movies - but if so it hasn't been achieved.

The only saving grace of this movie was Wendy Malick. She is funny and fun to watch. Her portrayal of Elise is great. When she shares a scene with others (such as Chris Murrah, who plays Andy) her performance and what she brings to the role elevates the performances of the others.

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...

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.

Having read most of the reviews, I'm almost embarrassed to say that I really enjoyed the movie. I will probably watch it again. Again as I have mentioned in other reviews of or the movies it is not academy award winning material but so what? It was to me a fun and pleasant movie to watch. It was feel good and it had a good story line. Did it have some issues like the plate that never emptied yes but it had a good enough plot, the acting was fine and it made me want to keep watching. I can overlook many things in a movie if it makes me want to keep watching and makes me feel good. And this one did that for me.

I think this movie may have originally been meant to be a play but it adapts well. I enjoyed it much more than most independent movies. I do not find anything cliché about it. There are several duos of characters present who are each coming to terms with what they know of particular relationships in their lives or what they think they know of those relationships. I think the acting ability in this is fair. There are several new faces to see but they each demonstrate a proficient ability. There are some very to scenes to put this in the quirky category which I like. I enjoyed this film.I think it is definitely worth a watch.