cheese and crackers

Rating: 3/10 (24 May 2010)

Holy cheese and crackers, Can film making ever get worse than this? Yes.. yes it can. The happening is a film that does get picked on and i can see why, the acting is terrible and shocking when you read the cast list. Mark Wahlberg seems to be lost, i don't even think he's trying to act because his performance is just awful. But it must be said, without him, this film would be a total disaster. Zooey deschanel is on the same level as Mark in this film. At half the stuff she said and how she delivered it, made me cringe. You know what, no point discussing the acting because there are more serious faults to pick on.
What people have to remember is that this film was made from a man who brought us films such as "signs" and " lady in the water" so you have to expect some over the top plot. The story is simple, plants communicate to one another and release toxins as a self defence mechanism. basically these toxins force people to commit suicide. I have no problem with the concept, i for one, rather liked the idea. But what really ruined the film was how it was written.
Some parts will make you laugh, some parts will force you to roll your eyes, some parts will make you want to do the same actions as the victims commit. There are some stupid one liners. The private's reaction to the dead bodies " cheese and crackers". Elliots brainstorming ideas when in the distant , guns shots can be heard. This particular scene ain't helped by the awful acting of Deschanel. Then there's the whole science class scene in which if there is ever a poll on the " top 10 worst teachers" then Mark wahlberg will no doubt be number one. the whole class discussion is just pointless. To be honest, Mark acts like a clueless hillbilly.
The only positive is that the concept, even though it daft, is a interesting one. But when a black kid pops up from nowhere and starts discussing other people's personal matters , then the whole film is ruined.
But holy cheese and crackers, the last acts was painful. before this, the film was already on it knees, crawling to the end and the final act was just the beheading. Awful, lousy ending to a lousy film. Shyamalan stated that "the happening" was made as B movie. Well, to me, that a poor excuse . he also said how he believed the audience would figure out that the " The Happening" is a supposed B movie. I'm sorry, but when you include already established actors and a serious sense of tension, it easy to know that your clearly lying.
With a film that has great actors and a great director, it pretty scary to see how disastrous a film can turn out even when it filled with talent. If the script was solid and if anyone actually bothered to read the script, then this film would of been great.