Shawn's The Happening Review

2008 Movie #61 - The Happening

"I just hope that the Happening doesn't come in and ruin this rare streak." If you remember correctly that is how my last review ended. Sure enough what did the Happening come and fucking do? Ruined the streak. The movie isn't quite the holy shit god awful kill yourself train wreck I was expecting it to be, but it's damn far from being a good movie. It's barely a watchable movie.

To start off, my feelings on M. Night are mixed. I liked the Sixth Sense and loved both Unbreakable and Signs, Unbreakable being my favourite of his films. The Village was very meh with an ending I just hated, and I never actually saw Lady in the Water. So I don't have anything against his films, hell I would love for him to start making great movies again. I'm not the biggest fan of him as a person since he comes off as an arrogant bastard who thinks the world of himself but we won't get into that right now.

The point is that this movie just isn't good. It could have been good I believe. The premise behind the movie isn't awful, though it's pretty damn silly. At least they try and provide some explanation for what actually is happening but when it comes down it it's a pretty god damn goofy scenario. You know what, maybe this really was the best movie they could have made out of the story.

It's not just the main reveal thats a problem though, the whole movie feels disjointed with a lot of pointless shit in it. What was the point of the mood ring for example? I kept waiting for it to come into play in a major way but it never happened. So fucking stop telling us about it. Why do we care that Marky Mark and Zooey had been fighting? It never once plays a major role and when it does show up, it feels stilted and pointless. Also what the fuck was with the old lady near the end of the movie? That was so out of nowhere left field retarded that it felt like we were watching a whole different, yet equally bad, movie.

Speaking of which, the acting in this movie is almost shockingly bad. I like the main cast but what the fuck were they doing here? Did M. Night tell them this was okay? How could anyone watch the dailies of this and think the acting was ok for the final product? It's so wooden and stiff it's almost like the cast was playing a joke that Night never caught on to or something. It doesn't help matters that the dialogue is equally as bad. Does M. Night (for the record, I really don't wanna write his last name out ever) even know how real human beings talk? It certainly doesn't look like it after watching this one.

There is some cool stuff in this one. Some of the suicides are neat and creepy but some (im looknig at you zookeeper) are just fucking laughable. Also I liked the ending kind of. It delivers a message that is actually kind of freaky. Unfortunatly there isn't another scary thing in this movie. The jump scares are lame and the violence I think is intended to be a lot more shocking than it actually is.

In conclusion, have a friend tell you what the happening actually is and just skip this one. In fact....it's plants doing it. There ya go, now you can skip the first step and never think about this movie again.

**/5