The Happening Review

The Happening should not have happened. And I'm not talking about the actual event laid out in the movie: I'm talking about the actual movie. M. Night Shyamalan has tried again to creep us out with some strange occurrence and keeping it subtle until the right moment. Unfortunately, there is no right moment. Look, I get the message, I just didn't like the vessel in which the message was carried to me.

While Shyamalan had a few writing credits before The Sixth Sense, it was that movie which catapulted him into screenplay stardom. Since then, his movies have steadily gotten worse and worse and in one or two cases, barely watchable. Unbreakable had a good premise and morose acting but plodded along in terms of storytelling; Signs had superb acting and a great idea and was pretty good; The Village kept your interest until you either figured it out or found out the secret, and then just got annoying; Lady in the Water...well, we all know about that one.

The Happening stars Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel and John Leguizamo trying to escape some sort of event that is occurring on the Eastern Seaboard. They don't understand what's going on, but they seem to always be ahead of this happening. I will just say right now, when you find out what the happening actually is, you will wish for Lady in the Water. I would have rather not known what was going on and would have rather watched Wahlberg and Descahnel on the run, wondering if they will survive.

The acting is the reason to see this movie. If you like any of the actors, then you will be pleased just to see their talent and how they interact with each other. Wahlberg is a science teacher who relies on making decisions on the scientific model; Deschanel plays his wife who seemingly is having second thoughts about marrying Wahlberg and is a little wacky. Leguizamo plays a fellow teacher who is witty and is concerned about the safety of his daughter. Between the three of them, they travel west through Pennsylvania to find some safe harbor away from the happening.

The movie has some great scenes and some good lines, but I think the message Shyamalan was trying to convey overshadows any greatness this movie could have had. In the beginning, when the happening was starting, it was weird to see people stop what they are doing and kill themselves. I mean, don't get me wrong, stuff like that kept me interested, but they were few and far between. I was hoping the happening was something beyond my thinking or something so cool I was going to pee my pants in delight...and fear.

But no, I didn't pee my pants. I didn't have any delight. All I had was popcorn, Diet Coke, and disappointment. What happened to the writer who wrote The Sixth Sense and Stuart Little (yes, I admit it I like it)? Shyamalan wrote The Happening but his movies haven't happened in a long time.