What's Happening?

Rating: 7/10 (1 February 2011)

Don't expect to see Rerun, Raj and Dwayne hanging out at Shirleys diner.
I'm glad I heard the trashing of this film before I saw it, because I was able to go into it with low expectations. And this is the reason I found this film to be a slight enjoyment.
Moonwalking Madness, is what I would rename this film. This film was one big joke from start to finish. And by "joke" I mean funny as hell. Suicide has never been so funny to me until this film came along. You've got to be crazy to take this film completely serious. And you have no funny-bone if you can keep a straight face while viewing it.
Billie Jean is not my lover (moonwalk), and then *BLAMMO*.
Apparently, defenseless Vegetation (of all things) has decided to (for whatever reason) join forces in a Jihad against all of mankind. A Daffodil and an Oak Tree had obviously flipped a coin and decided to launch their first attack in the upper New England states, which put my mind at ease since I'm a Southerner. "The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind". I mean, literally....it was blowin' in the wind. It appears that the wind is an ally in this terrorist attack. I mean, what better way for toxic "plant-farts" to travel from point-A to point-B? Once a human gets a whiff of this fragrance, they become tranced. They take four or five steps backwards, do the hokey-pokey, turn themselves around and look around for something deadly to end their lives.....that's what its all about!!
"Hey, lookie there....a John Deere lawnmower. Lemmi crank her up and crawl under it....see if the blades are sharp enough for the lawn" or "That thar hand grenade looks awful damn delicious." or "I hope you left a bullet in that chamber for me, hon."
Mark Wahlberg stars, and is intentionally unconvincing as a high-school science teacher, appearing to look only slightly older than the students he teaches. He lives a few states over from the "plant-farts", but not for long, as the winds-of-change are quickly headed his direction. John Leguizamo also stars, playing an even more intentionally unconvincing mathematics teacher, however he does improve his performance during emotional moments. He travels with his 8 year old daughter who (thankfully) barely spoke throughout most of the film.
This is not quite a review, just my observation with rambling included. I am confused. Is this actually what Shyamalan was aiming for? Or was this humor just unintentional? Whatever his intention, I didn't care, because I was too busy having fun watching it. The suicides are completely hilarious, which wasn't a bad thing since nearly each suicide died with a different method....well....except for the people who were gathered together. If someone in a group had a gun, they'd all share the gun....each biting a bullet until there were no more bullets left. If someone jumped off a building, everyone around would think it was an excellent idea. So, to answer your mothers old question: "Sure mom, if Billy jumped off a bridge, I'd be close enough behind him to see his butt crack."
The problems I had with this film were major, but the humor made up for it. Like how Wahlberg and company never got infected, but others around him were offing themselves in herds. And like how the wind always seemed to blow in someone else's face even though Wahlberg sometimes stood only a few yards away.
Every now and then, they'd happen across a TV where the news is on, and there'd be some guy talking about this Happening, or trying to figure out the origin of it.....which I saw as a direct rip-off of G.A Romero's Night Of The Living Dead.
But this is all just my observation and opinion. You don't have to buy it. Just buy the movie and see for yourself.
7/10