The Happening Review

                              
M. Night Shyamalan is usually known for three things, the last of which has only seemed to happen recently; suspense thrillers, plot twists and really bad/weird movies. Ever since one movie, his films seem to be the target of a lot of hazing. That movie is simply known as...

In a park, a mysterious phenonemon has begun. People start commiting suicide, unprovoked, immediately and in great numbers. High school teacher Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg) and his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) are one of hundreds moving out of New York City to avoid the hidden pandemic, clueless about its origin or how long they have before it catches up with them. Running for their lives, the family joins with other fleeing citizens, searching for the answer that will provide their survival.

Let me start this analysis with one thing. Though I will not spoil the plot twist that Shyamalan is known for including in every one of his movies, I will say that it is by far one of the weirdest and, many others have called, stupidest revelations ever put on screen.

Here, Shyamalan is the triple threat of writer, producer and director and it's really an enigma of knowing where he went wrong in comparison to some of his earlier work. The direction to these actors just dries the acting out completely, the script's dialogue pulls tons of clichés and it just leaves the production feeling like a joke.

This is not a suspense thriller, it's a comedy. Plain and simple. When the best performance in this film is coming from 12-year-old Ashlyn Sanchez, it really shows that the movie's characters have been rendered stupid, crazy, devoid of personality or all of the above. Half the places this plot takes the viewer leaves them questioning the decisions of these characters and the logic they believe.

People talk to plants in this movie on more than one occasion; our protagonists ladies and gentlemen.

The movie even breaks the golden rule multiple times with these actors constantly staring dead center at the camera. It only surprised me that they didn't break the fourth wall while doing so.

For The Happening, though it's definetely far from standing side by side with M. Night Shyamalan's best work, it could retain some merit in being so bad that it's funny. Nobody will be jumping with an intimidation factor of zero. The only reason you'll have to quickly leave your chair is to use the restroom or fall out of your seat laughing.