The Happening (spoiler-free review)

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#1

<deep sigh>

I had high expectations for this movie. I understood that this was going to be on par with Sixth Sense, or at least Signs…

…it was not. There were a few gems, but for the most part it was just muck. Here are some of my problems.

  1. Casting. 90% of the actors couldn’t act…it was like they cast this movie from a high school drama class. The first person you meet delivers her lines like she is reading them from a cue card for the first time. This set the tone. The teenage boys acted with their hands, the gardner was half a beat late on every line…it was just awful.

  2. Tied to #1: Zooey Deschanel. Gods. I know this is one of the few things Chuck and I truly disagree on…but I cannot stand this woman as an actress. She is never present and seems to be surprised everytime the camera turns to her. She absolutely ruined “Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” for me, and now she has gone and ruined this movie too. One reviewer put it best in writing, “The oddly miscast Deschanel pulls you out of the moment everytime she is in frame, looking lost and disoriented in every shot, she was a constant reminder you were watching a movie.”

  3. The suicides. What started out as being terrifying quickly turned into a gimmick of “how can we kill people now?” Puh-lease.

  4. Marital woes felt like a last minute attempt to add depth to character.

I didn’t have a problem with the premise of the movie at all…in fact I found it interesting. It was the window dressing and nonsense that just destroyed this movie.

Am I alone here or do people generally agree? I would love to talk about it as no one I know has seen it…and I treated myself to a lunchtime movie on Monday (work across the street from a movie theatre? Hell yeah!)

#2

Zooey Deschanel. Gods. I know this is one of the few things Chuck and I truly disagree on…but I cannot stand this woman as an actress.

I wanted to slap the frak outta her during: Tin Man.

She bothers me too. I can’t believe she’s Bones’ sister in real life…

She should stick to highschool stage acting… Or… PBS…hehehehe…

#3

just got back from it. i can see what you mean by all points made Solai, but i still really enjoyed it for whatever reason. IMO better than The Village, but below Signs.

Zooey Deschannel is kinda hit and miss for me. though i i do find her attractive, i see what you mean about her in this film. she is partly why i only watched the first part of the Tin Man. however, i really liked her in “Elf” with Will Ferrell, so there’s that i guess. also really liked Hitchhiker’s Guide.

i really though Mark Wahlberg was underutilized, or perhaps misused. it felt like he was either acting from poorly written material, or that he was just not playing a character that fit him as an actor. i know that he is talented b/c of his work in such flicks as The Departed and Shooter, so it must be what he had to work with.

all in all though, i really liked the story behind the movie, regardless of how it was executed, so i guess that’s why i enjoyed it so much. say what you want about M. Night as a director, but the man knows how to conceive of an intriguing story. perhaps he should focus more on the actual writing of his films and let others direct for a change.

#4

Well, my wife has the hots for Mark Wahlberg, so we might have gone to see this movie for that reason alone. But now you’ve given me good ammunition to NOT see this movie. So, thank you for that.
We very seldom get out to go to he movies, and fortunately my wife is such a big Indy Jones fan, that there’s no question that that’s what we’ll see next date night we can wrangle.

#5

wow–a lunch break long enough to see a movie…what a concept

#6

Boss is away, I am responsible…it is all good!

#7

You mean Solai got more than 15-28 minutes for lunch? Wow. It has been a while since I was in a job like that. Then again, that job did have the title of “Instructor” and faculty club privileges with it…

#8

From what I’ve heard from all of my friends who’ve seen it, the best parts of the movie are in the previews - which were pulled from the first twenty minutes. I’ve heard stories of audience members laughing, even.

#9

The worst movie I’ve seen since Cloverfield hehe

Easily Shymalan’s worst movie. I hope this will mark the end of his career as a writer/director (too much control leaves him completely out of touch) and the end of Marky Mark’s carrer as a lead actor.

The cast was mish-mash of underactors and over actors. Unlike other movies, even those of Shymalan’s, we don’t care for those stuck in titular Happening, nor can we believe any of the characters really believe the dialog they are forced to recite.

The iof9 Intelligent design review was genius and I have to agree with it… it’s ridiculous spiritualism trading morality for rationality.

I can barely call this movie laughably bad… as it was more agonizing and tedious and void humor intentional or unintentional. The groan inducing “villiany” starts way too early and suffering thru the 90min still feels too long.

You’ll regret spending any amount of money on this one.

#10

this might have some reason to do with my lack of hatred for the film, as my best friend works at our theater, so we didn’t have to pay for this one.

#11

Shymalan has dissapointed me in almost every movie of his that I have known it was him. Signs was absolutely terrible, compleate rubbish(PM me if you want reasons, I dont want to discuss this erly in the morning, it makes me grumpy) I have decided that it is not worth the ticket, and prob. not even the bandwith to HitBorrent it. Sixth sense was fantastic, and im seeing unbreakble today. But after seening Night’s name, and this thread, I have no intrest in seeing this.

#12

The only movie of his that I didn’t like was The Village - and that was because I figured out the twist after about 5 minutes. Upon rewatch it’s a beautiful film.

I just like Shymalan - doesn’t mean I’ll like this movie.

#13

I agree with you there. I find the premise of his movies intriguing but the delivery needs more work. Does he have more mainstream films where he just stuck with the screenwriting and not get involved behind the camera?

Aside from wincing with the gore (weak tummy… I don’t know how I lasted in the theater), the editing needs more work. I haven’t seen too many Zooey Deschanel movies enough to say she’s a good/bad actress (although the constant wide-eyed look ticked me off). I wish Mark Walhberg had more to do. I think it might be for lack of better directing.

from missmuffet
The only movie of his that I didn’t like was The Village - and that was because I figured out the twist after about 5 minutes. Upon rewatch it’s a beautiful film.

The trailers hyped up the suspense/horror aspect and not the romance, I think. So, when the ‘real’ story came up, people generally got bored. But I liked it though.

I liked Signs ‘best’ of all his movies I’ve seen. Being a sci-fi fan, you know. Aliens and all that.

#14

I had the same experience, missmuffet. I never would’ve rewatched were it not for James Newton Howard’s soundtrack–elevates it further