Made me rethink my status as an M. Night Shyamalan fan

Rating: 2/10 (19 June 2008)

If you happen to be a fan of Fox's Family Guy, you may have seen the episode where they make fun of Stephen King's later works. The scene depicts Stephen King sitting with his agent/editor. Stephen says: "and now for my 300th novel, a couple are attacked by a..." he looks around the room frantically and picks up the desk lamp... "a giant uh... lamp monster... Ooooooo!".
The editor replies "you're not even trying anymore are you?" then he sighs and says "okay, when can I have it?"
"The Happening" made me think that a scene similar to this must have played out between M Night and his production companies. This movie is to Shyamalan what Star Wars Episode 1 was to George Lucas - a sincere disappointment.
It was such a shocking departure from his usually tight scripts, tense direction, and haunting atmosphere. It was a clunky, awkward movie - brimming with bad exposition dialog, confused character motivation, blatant plot holes, and seemingly first-take acting. On leaving the cinema, my wife and I commented that it seemed more like a first-draft screenplay than a polished, finished version... like something that was hacked out overnight to meet a deadline.
There are a few interesting concepts, and a couple of touching scenes, and as usual in Shyamalan's works, the music was haunting. But for the most part it was simply awful. Up until now I was a big fan of Unbreakable, Signs, The Sixth Sense, and Lady in the Water. I even thought everyone's favorite M. Night movie to hate - the Village - was okay. But "The Happening" is truly best avoided. A crying shame.