Meg Ryan and David Duchovny are both about 23 white lines deep, at the same play in New York. During intermission, they run into each other while smoking a cigarette. It's fate! They must make this movie together! They skip the rest of the play and have a snowball fight instead. This movie is the result.

Now, none of this probably happened. But, while watching the movie, you feel how this should have been a two-person play. The exchange of dialogue screams the blow is good. Both actors over worked and stretch face pallets make you wish you could have downloaded this in 480p. But you can't turn it off because you love the actors, and you give it 2 stars above what it deserves for the same reason.

Greetings again from the darkness. Meg Ryan will forever be linked to her popular and beloved romantic comedies, WHEN HARRY MET SALLY (1989) and SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE (1989). She wore the crown of "America's Sweetheart" for years, and then after years of hard work, she pumped the breaks on her acting career, resurfacing periodically for a TV or film role, often in support. In 2015 she took her first shot at directing with ITHACA, in which she also starred, and now after an 8 year big screen absence, she's back as writer-director-producer and star of a film that harkens back much closer to her rom-com roots.

A massive winter storm rolls in - a Bomb Cyclone with Snow Thunder. This grounds all planes at a regional airport (it was filmed at the airport near Bentonville, Arkansas) where ex-lovers Willa (Meg Ryan) and Bill (David Duchovny) bump into each other for the first time since they broke up twenty-five years ago. Initial awkward small talk soon transitions into 'large' talk, and the two fall into rhythmic banter befitting of two who were at one time very close. He's a stockbroker on the way to Austin to meet with his demanding, much younger boss, and she's a wellness practitioner on her way to Boston. For emphasis, he wears a dark business suit and necktie, while she sports clunky boots and bouncy hair.

What follows is a passive-aggressive twist on Richard Linklater's "Before" trilogy. In the industry, this is called a two-hander, as there are only two speaking parts - not counting the slyly intrusive airport PA announcer (credited as Hal Liggett?) - and the two characters carry on a conversation for most of the run time. Ms. Ryan wrote the script with Steven Dietz and Kirk Lynn and based it on Dietz's play, "Shooting Star." It's a dialogue heavy approach designed to let us get to know the characters, but also allow Willa and Bill to catch up as they re-live moments from the past. Some of this is painful for them, and some of it provides previously lacking clarity. Memories and quirks pop up, and the manner in which they are addressed speaks volumes to how close these two once were. We learn their secrets as they each peel back layers.

Tom Petty's lyrics, "Most of the things I worry about never happen anyway" are utilized to effect here, and missed connections has multiple meanings. With Meg Ryan and David Duchovny past the 60 year mark, this isn't one of the cutesy rom-coms we've grown accustomed to with twenty-somethings. These are grown-ups who once shared dreams and are now taking stock of life and reality. Even the commentary on society is head-on rather than cleverly disguised as is common for this genre. Director Ryan and cinematographer Bartosz Nalazek insert more than a few falling snowflake shots, and the point is driven home about just how much has occurred since these two became a couple while attending the University of Wisconsin. As a writer, director, and actor, Meg Ryan certainly is in her wheelhouse here, and fittingly, she ends with a "For Nora" tribute to her late friend and mentor, Nora Ephron.

Opens in theaters on November 3, 2023.