Happening? Not so much...

Rating: 4/10 (18 October 2008)

It's not awful, but it is pretty lifeless. M. Night Shyamalan continues his slow descent from front line director to dullard with this outing. Mark Wahlberg is fine as science teacher (yes, somehow that's not as inane as it sounds) who, along with most of the northeastern US is trying to cope with some sort of plague that's forcing people to kill themselves. It's a promising premise that Shyamalan simply doesn't exploit to its fullest. The film is so slowly paced, it's difficult not to wonder if this shouldn't have had several additional rewrites before being filmed. It's like a short story stretched into novel length. Quirky actors like Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, and Betty Buckley are in it too, with Deschanel just a bit too "out there" to be believable as the wife of straight-laced Wahlberg. Buckley has a particularly odd role as a stranger Wahlberg and Deschanel encounter. Nevertheless, THE HAPPENING does offer some great cinematography and a few truly shocking moments (one involving a very unfortunate zoo visitor).