More wooden than Pinocchio

Rating: 2/10 (22 June 2008)

I have followed this film since the first copy of the script was leaked out on the internet. I had high hopes that once it went through a few rewrites it would actually be a good film. I had been disappointed by Lady in the Water and The Village, and wanted to see another quality movie by the man behind The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable.
To say I was disappointed by The Happening is the understatement of the year. The original script was actually better than the film. It gives the term "B-Movie" a bad name.
The wooden acting destroyed this film. Wahlberg plays a high school teacher. His character is beyond wooden. He just recites his lines. I am surprised he took this role. He'll be lucky if it doesn't set his acting career behind eight years. Zooey Deschanel's Alma is not any better.
MNS is known to work his actors hard in rehearsals prior to filming. He wants to make sure they will give the presentation he wants to see on the screen. This leads me to believe the horrible acting was done on purpose. The poor execution of the script also led me to this conclusion.