I haven’t been to the theater in almost two years, but Jeanne and I made it out to see M. Night Shyamalan’s new movie, The Happening. It’s probably not as bad as the reviews say, but it’s not good either. Clearly M Night wants to be the next Hitchcock and this is his take on The Birds. Unfortunately for me, the Birds is my least favorite Hitchcock film.
As usual, the visual direction is great but The Happening’s dialog and pacing feels wrong. Casting Mark Wahlberg as a science teacher isn’t as unbelievable as Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist, but it still seemed strange. I think Wahlberg is a capable actor, too. He was great in the Departed.
The only part of the film I really liked was the overall concept, which is probably what most people hated. Read on if you’ve seen the movie.
