by Cindy Burch

Created on: June 19, 2008

I think there was a typo - The Happening was supposed to be called the Crappening. I had a free ticket and I still felt ripped off! I went despite the warning of our local movie reviewer giving it one star. I was so impressed with The Sixth Sense that I wanted The Happening to be good. I waited and waited and it never was. The Sixth Sense was very clever and after seeing it, you couldn't find a blooper and everything was logical and consistent. M. Night Shyamalan's movies seem to get progressively worse. He should have stopped after the first one.

There were about twenty people scattered throughout the theater on the day I attended. There were scenes that were supposed to be scary and horrifying and we were laughing. For example, in one scene, Betty Buckley (remember Eight is Enough?) puts her head through a glass window. There are shards of glass sticking out of her face and she looks right into the camera. I couldn't help but laugh! I found myself wishing I had a movie schedule and was considering sneaking into another movie but I didn't. I gave it every chance.

There's a scene where Mark Walberg is talking to a plant. Then he realizes that it's plastic. That's the comic relief.

I think it was trying to be timely with a "green message" and a moral but it was unclear and inconsistent what the moral was. It was the kind of writing a dramatic high school student would turn in and get a C. I cannot think of anything good to say about The Happening. Also, the title keeps making me hum the Supremes' song of the same name...

Someone named Joey keeps texting the Zooey Deschanel character. We never see him.
The funniest part of the whole experience was in the credits when it said Joey was played by M Night Shayamalan. (Yes I read the credits.)

The acting was really embarassingly corny and the dialog was asinine. Early in the movie, Mark Walberg refers to his mood ring so you think it's some foreshadowing but it's just part of the absolutely idiotic writing. People are dropping like flies and you don't even care. It just gets boring. It's insulting. I don't want to give away the plot and I couldn't if I wanted to. There was no real explanation of what was "happening" and you think maybe it's over with - but is it? Maybe this is all leading to The Happening II.

Let me do my good deed for the day and save you readers $10.00. Don't waste your precious time and money on this movie.

Learn more about this author, Cindy Burch.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.