The Happening

Ladies and gentlemen, it's official. M. Night Shyamalan is officially getting worse with every movie he makes. Most directors work their way up, slumming through a few turkeys before they reach their masterpiece. Shyamalan is working in reverse. His first film was the brilliant The Sixth Sense, which garnered an Academy Award nomination for best picture. It was an impeccable blend of horror and drama, and it reinvented the twist ending. He coerced Oscar-nominated performances out of child actor Haley Joel Osment and Australian actress Toni Collette, and brought Bruce Willis' career back from the dead, giving him credibility as an actor that he had never warranted previously. Shyamalan followed that with Unbreakable and Signs, both strong thrillers in their own ways, neither coming close to the quality of The Sixth Sense. Then came The Village, and it was evident that Shyamalan was losing his touch. There were some interesting concepts to the film itself, but all in all, it was one of the most amateurishly filmed movies I had seen. It was like watching a first semester film school project, before the lesson in lighting and composition. That was followed by Lady in the Water, one of the few movies in my lifetime that I hated so much I couldn't finish it. It was utterly horrible. I couldn't possibly begin to try to explain the plot, because there really wasn't one. Bad script, bad direction, bad acting. I thought for sure Shyamalan couldn't do any worse. I was wrong.

The Happening starts with mass numbers of people committing suicide. I'm surprised the screenings of the movie didn't have the same effect, honestly. Most of the suicides are committed in gory ways, a cheap ploy to distract the audience from how bad the script is. I don't know what emotion Shyamalan was trying to illicit, but I don't think he wanted people to laugh out loud while people were dying, which is exactly what my family and I did (my personal favorite occurred at a zoo; don't ask). I will say, the mass suicide plot could've possibly been taken somewhere interesting. Early in the film, there are a couple of visually striking scenes that garnered my attention for a minute. That was before any of the actors opened their mouths. I cannot for the life of me understand how this director can make talented actors turn in late-night-Cinemax caliber performances. Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel are actors who have a lot of strong performances behind them. So what the heck happened to them with this? They walk around the sets like they are brain-dead. It appears that the extras who were basically hired to come onscreen and kill themselves got the better end of the deal than the lead actors did. The best part of the movie was mocking the cheeseball performances with my family. It was like a midnight screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with my teenagers, my husband and I yelling bad lines back at the screen.

I haven't even hit on the plot. It would be wrong of me to give too much away, just in case anyone wants to completely ignore my review and watch. So I won't ruin it, but I will say one thing. Spoiler alert: it's ridiculous. There's obviously something causing all of the suicides. You won't believe what it is. I assume Shyamalan was trying to make some kind of grand statement, trying to make this a bit of a message film. There's a message alright; this movie sucks. If I ever have to watch it again, I'm going to lay down in front of a lawn mower (& yes, that really does happen in the movie).