An Honest and Calculated Review

Rating: Null/10 (13 June 2008)

I am just now sitting down after returning from the 7:45 showing of The Happening at our local theater and after being asked twice what I thought about it, my immediate answer was: I...just don't know yet. I've had the drive home alone to better gather my two cents, so here goes.
The movie as a whole...I don't feel got the experience and vision across that Night wanted us to have.
One reason for this includes the fact that I feel some of the side actors were trying to lather up their acting chops to match that of the main characters--thus, the chemistry between the two groups was just blatantly off and the non-A listers just looked like a bunch of overactors.
Then there's the spoken script. Characters in movies are all given silly lines from time to time and they just have to make it work, but in this film the lack of chemistry mentioned above often failed to resolve this and sometimes even normal lines seemed really strange when paired with the overactors.
You might be wondering: any positives to mention?
Well, I suppose. I think Mark W did a better job than most people here are giving him credit for. I'm not saying he's phenomenal in it, but there were a few moments where I do feel I was seeing a different side of him and where his natural standoffishness was working for the character. He and Zooey have decent chemistry, though I felt her acting was inconsistent at times. John Legiuzamo was decent; he can pull of being a father figure. The film score by James Newton Howard is nice when he's not trying to scare you, and when appropriate I felt it brought real emotion to the story and scenes where it was needed.
In short, I am giving it an overall 5. I began with a 7 because I could see the kind of movie Night wanted to have which could have been great, but a 5 is representative of the product. Not horrible (i.e., not deserving of the 1's and 2's others have been putting on here..hello, we're putting this in the same league as Showgirls, The Neverending Story III, etc? I think not), but not his best film by far. I'm a huge fan and believe in him, but this was the first film where I didn't leave feeling thoughtful, inspired or "changed" for a moment. I just left uncertain of what to think of it all.
It's not a film I will ever watch again, so perhaps the best course of action to take for the curious viewer would be to either wait until a friend rents it or wait a week until it is free to download off of the internet.