The Happening is a 2008 film by director/writer M. Night Shyamalan, starring Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel. Advertised as M. Night’s first R rated film, it was categorized in the “Thriller” genre. The film takes place in present day America, and follows the stars trying to avoid being exterminated by some kind of airborne substance. What is that substance, you ask? Watch about half the movie and you’ll find out what it is.
That’s the main problem I have with The Happening. It doesn’t give itself enough time to build up tension before the big reveal happens. You are just getting to know the characters when they are told the origin of the mystery substance. The rest of the film involves the characters trying to avoid being caught by the substance that is now chasing them. Mark Wahlberg plays Elliot, a Science teacher, while his wife Alma is played by Zooey Deschanel. You can tell they have issues with each other from the beginning of the movie, but you never really feel like their relationship is in jeopardy. Apart from the daughter of Julian (John Leguizamo), played by Ashlyn Sanchez, the rest of the cast is pretty much non-existent. Elliot and Alma pretty much carry the entire film, with other characters coming and going like the wind.
The Happening never really seems scary or tense. It’s just a story guiding you through, but I always got the feeling that everything would be all right by the end. The substance that ends up being unleashed upon the world goes through three stages. The first stage is forgetfulness and difficulty speaking coherent sentences. The second stage is paralysis, while the third stage is suicide. The suicides are usually creative and enjoyable to watch. No two suicide scenes are the same, and you will get to witness many different ways for people to kill themselves. Despite the suicides being enjoyable to watch, they seemed to be the only real reason this film even got an R rating, and I believe that turning down the gore would have been enough to get a lower rating, and would not have hampered how much the film could be enjoyed. The rest of it is pretty tame, and after the first 2/3, there isn’t all that much even happening, especially with the substance. It plays more of a bystander role during the last part of the film, and lets the people tell the story.
The acting in The Happening is laughable, but in a good way. Whether this is intentional or not is beyond me, but it kept me chuckling quite a bit throughout. A large portion of the lines are delivered in a way that is unintentionally funny, especially when the characters are expected to be taken seriously. Mark Wahlberg is especially guilty of this, but I can’t dislike him because I have a nagging thought in the back of my head that this is what was intended by M. Night. Before the film was released, M. Night went on the record to say that he was trying to make a good B-Movie. Did he succeed in that? He pretty much does. Despite it not being a good movie, it is enjoyable enough to warrant a watch. And that should be what really matters.
The plot is quite silly and ends up being there just to guide the characters through a few different locations. The “twist” of an ending is something that will be figured out far before you should, and the acting, while funny, can’t be called “good”. It is still a fun film to watch, and I would at least recommend you to check it out if you see it for a cheap price, or if it comes on television one night. Watch it with a couple other people, and laugh at the hilariously forced dialogue that the characters deliver. This movie is fun to watch at least once. It likely won’t be as good the second time, but give it at least one chance.
After seeing The Happening, I have a feeling that the trademark “Shyalamam Twist” is that it was supposed to be a comedy all along. Or M. Night is just a terrible, terrible director.
Jokes aside, I don’t see how the movie can be taken seriously, and yet it never seemed like a B-movie. I’m mildly surprised that M. Night said he meant it to be one, as it had the feel of an attempted good movie that just went horribly wrong. I agree that it was still enjoyable for the laughs, though (eg- the entire plot of the movie is given away half-way through by a character in-between discussing the merits of hotdogs. Yes, hotdogs.), so maybe it doesn’t matter either way.
The Happening is a terrible film. I disagree with your point on watching it again. I never want to see this movie again. I agree with your assessment on Wahlberg’s acting though – it stunk.
I didn’t hate the movie. There’s a fair bit of aawkward in Wahlberg’s performance, but I warmed to him by the train scene. The relationship with his wife is subtle and didn’t feel tacked on – just the right kind of tension. And I think the atmosphere is realistically tense, and based on the hate and fear the planet could very well harbour towards the careless destructive animals top of the food chain.
there was a lot of potential here. there needed to be a more depressing part maybe the wife dies or wahlberg witness’s the death of his friend just to make a scene where wahlberg could act better than he did (we all know this was possibly his worse movie ever). I didnt know M Night considered this a B attempt movie. unlike a lot of his movies, like the village or lady in the water, there was a good idea to this film. Night just didnt capatilize