Happening Shmappening

Rating: 4/10 (12 June 2008)

I really didn't feel like I got my money's worth out of The Happening. At 91 minutes including titles and credits, this film is very frugal on content. The central concepts of the film are really quite interesting and hold a lot of potential that was not really satisfactorily explored. Every promising lead seems to peter out before it carries us anywhere. I spent the whole second half of the film waiting for the 'aha' moment when the final plot turn would be revealed, only to be disappointed with a few weak pointless closing scenes and then the film just ending.
The character performances were solid for the most part, but then there were many character development threads which just seemed to lead nowhere. This just adds to the ungratifying feeling one is likely to take away from The Happening. To me it felt more like a movie project than a feature film.
Probably some viewers may also find some of the scenes in the film unnecessarily gratuitous and graphic, which just distracts us further from the interesting ideas around which the film is constructed.