[3]

One of the now-many thuds on M. Night Shyamalan’s fall from Hollywood grace was this apocalyptic tale of (drum roll) plants exacting revenge on humankind… because they’re mad… or something. It’s hard to believe that it never occurred to Night or Twentieth Century Fox that this would ultimately result in a movie where people do nothing but run from wind machines. Unfortunately, the core concept of The Happening is only the first thing you have to get past. There’s also Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel’s characters. It’s hard to believe that the writer of The Sixth Sense also wrote these insipid, bizarre personalities. If this were the first film in either actor’s career, it would also have been their last. And then there’s the execution — with lots of distorted in-your-face camera angles that only accentuate the absurdity of what the characters are reacting to. And what’s with crazy lady Betty Buckley in that cottage in the last half-hour? What does that have to do with anything? And how about that supremely anti-climactic climax? For a while, I was convinced that Night had decided to make a really, really, really black comedy. But if so, the laugh’s on the audience for even bothering to show up for this stinker. With John Leguizamo.