The Happening

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I'm gonna pull the plug on my Shyamalan "marathon" after this one, seeing as a new month is upon us this time next week. So, here I am reviewing 'The Happening'. Widely regarded by many to be the single worst Shyamalan film of all time, it doesn't stop there. It also gets the worst performances out of both Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel - two actors who do just fine otherwise, and is seen by many to be in that "so bad, it's good" category. It might not meet the same level of terrible as something like 'The Room' or 'Troll 2', but it's certainly on-par with things like last years 'The Snowman', or even Shyamalan's own 'Devil', which at least for myself is practically a coin-flip.

What can I say about this movie that hasn't been said before? It boasts a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 18%, with a 24% audience rating, a Metascore of 34, and a total of 4 Razzie nominations, including Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Actor and Worst Screenplay, so quite a whammy of bad, but there are people out there who do seem to enjoy it despite how bad it is. Admittedly, I think I might be one of those people. Going back to 'Devil', I just see that as bad with no entertainment value behind it at all. Just a bunch of stupid people, and stupid rules about stupid bread landing stupid jelly side down. This however brings with it the bizarre performances from Wahlberg and Deschanel, the ridiculous plot and dialogue, and plenty of quotability.

The basic plot involves something... well, happening, that is causing people to commit suicide, and our main characters try to keep ahead of it in pretty much the same style they tried to keep ahead of the enclosing cold weather in 'The Day After Tomorrow'. It's believed very strongly to be caused by plants releasing some sort of toxin into the air that messes with our brains, but others believe something more like terrorism is involved. The movie plays out, you're entertained by how ridiculous it all is, and it ends on the strangest of notes. It's not a cliffhanger, but it doesn't really end by wrapping anything up, either. It just kinda stops and we're still left looking for answers and being confused by what the hell we just watched.

Anyway, it's no secret. This movie is kinda legendary for being bad, and I don't see it in much more of a positive light than most. It's stupidity is very entertaining, and it got a few solid laughs when it wasn't supposed to, but it's otherwise pretty irredeemable. That said, it does kinda have to be seen to be believed, and it makes me want to revisit it in the near future to see what craziness I may have missed the first time around. It's a pretty terrible flick, but I actually highly recommend checking it out for a good laugh.

1/5

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