by Henry Daniels

Created on: July 18, 2009   Last Updated: September 27, 2009

M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening", starring Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel, is about a high-school science teacher's attempts to save his wife and friends in the wake of a deadly neurotoxin attack, caused by plants as a reaction to humanity's abuse of the environment, which is steadily driving everyone in the US northeast - from New York to Philadelphia - to commit suicide. Much of the film's 91minute running time is devoted to savage imagery of people jumping off buildings, clawing at each other, shooting themselves, throwing themselves to zoo-lions, under lawnmowers, etc ... pretty much whatever suicidal method is on hand.

In crafting a fable about environmental revenge, M. Night Shyamalan probably had the best of intentions. He seems to be arguing that if humanity does not shape up and respect the environment, Mother Nature will slaughter us all. Little did Shyamalan realize, however, that he was the one doing the actual slaughtering with the creation of such an excruciatingly boring film. "The Happening" trudges along minute by dreadful minute - often pausing, indulgently, to show increasingly nightmarish suicidal imagery - as we follow the survival exploits of Wahlberg and clan.

Save a mathematics professor, 'Julian', portrayed by the gifted John Leguizamo, the other characters in this movie aren't people anyone would care to spend five minutes with, let alone 91. Who would have believed that the man who penned such compelling works like "The Sixth Sense" and "Signs" could go on to create such dull and lifeless characters? Wahlberg's dialogue is flat and witless. Zooey Deschanel, for all her beauty and screen-presence, is given nothing to contribute. I imagine that Shyamalan, in his zeal to show us how environmental damage can affect ordinary, average citizens, chose to write ordinary, average people. But this choice completely backfired on him, because an audience can't care about the events of a movie if it doesn't care about the people in it. There's nothing in these folks to love. Moreover, characters aside, how could Shyamalan have thought that showing people running from an invisible force for an hour and a half would make for an interesting movie?

"The Sixth Sense" drives us to watch how Bruce Willis' character, tormented by a past mistake, attempts to redeem himself through the mental healing of a besieged young boy. "Signs" showed us how a good minister whose faith had been destroyed by tragedy struggles to protect his family amidst signs of an alien invasion. These films have compelling stories, not just people running from gusts of wind. These characters are both faced with choices that will affect their humanity, not merely their survival. In "The Happening", Mark Wahlberg is tormented by ... well ... nothing. He has nothing to redeem, no children of his own to save.

When the script gives an actor so little to work with, it's usually up to the screen presence of the star to take over and make us care for him. Wahlberg, who does much better with stronger roles in "Boogie Nights" and "The Departed", isn't up to that lofty task. The only actor who is - namely, Leguizamo - is quickly disposed of.

Shyamalan needs to try his hand at romantic comedy. After all, his recent films are so unintentionally funny that just think of what he could accomplish if he actually tried to make people laugh. He's made enough suspense-movies, at this point, both wonderful and awful, to pad out that section of the resume. Let's see him try something different, something new. An artist must constantly challenge himself; right now, creating a good movie is proving quite the challenge for Mr. Shyamalan.

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