Here After (2020 | USA | 118 | Harry Greenberger)
An attractive forty-something, semi-successful actor from New York, Michael (Andy Karl), dies single. He’s told by a magical CEO (Christina Ricci) in a high rise in the sky that he has to find his soulmate to ascend and there’s a ticking clock to find them before he literally ceases to exist. So… eternity with a partner or you literally disappear never to be heard from again; useless and unloved. That’s the concept of this film and it’s pounded into you in nearly every scene including when the protagonist says “so it’s just all these losers hanging around looking for their soul mate?” Yea… he said “losers”, many many times.
I’ll step back for a minute and admit that I knowingly opened the door to this Hallmark holiday special-type film that would most definitely trigger many an eye roll and groan for its ridiculous out-of-date concepts of love both toward others and ourselves. I was ready to release all of that annoyance and just try to enjoy it for the ridiculous movie that I assumed it would be. I wanted to give a fair shake rather than a cynical one. I expected to make a snide comment or two about its misogyny and how it ignores that we’re all capable of figuring out life without a partner, so why not afterlife as well.
Sadly, that thought is just a drop in the bucket when it comes to frustrations with this film. A good example is HoneyBee (don’t even get me started on that) played by Nora Arnezeder, the woman Michael comes to care about who just so happens to be alive and can mysteriously see and talk to him. She is being stalked by a (living) man and obviously terrified of this guy, but at one point Michael asks, apropos of nothing she has said or done, “Wait, are you interested in this guy? Some women are into that.” As if she was the reason, or it was her fault in some way, that a psychopath has chosen her as his target. This and many more interactions made a somewhat conceptually interesting story fall flat on its face.
If it weren’t for the bad writing and attempts to lean on Ricci and her star power far too much as a draw (her part was small, ineffective and counter-intuitive at times), the general idea could have produced something really fun, enigmatic and witty if done right. Maybe don’t make it seem like a human being is worthless without a romantic partner? Yes, I’m single, but I believe in love in all its forms so don’t go calling me a cranky old bitty just yet. Love is amazing and can create a whole new alleyway into how we care for ourselves and others. However, whether it’s temporary or for your entire life, single-dom doesn’t doom you to be useless and unlovable.
The acting was actually pretty great by both Karl (aside from the over-use of his eyebrow raise at every opportunity) and Arnezeder. While it took nearly the entire 118 minutes, the two did end up having chemistry and I managed to find it somewhere inside myself to care about both of them. I’ll just say this: I was really disappointed and may have yelled at the screen a few times.
Here After is available on VOD beginning July 23.