Another case of elegant filmmaking kneecapped by a thunderingly stupid concept.
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06/14/08
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The Happening (2008)
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Reviews Counted:169
Fresh:31
Rotten:138
Average Rating:4.1/10
Consensus: The Happening begins with promise, but unfortunately descends into an incoherent and unconvincing trifle.
Theatrical Release:Jun 13, 2008 Wide
Box Office: $64,384,941
Synopsis: M. Night Shyamalan directs this thriller about a science teacher (Mark Wahlberg) who tries to escape with his wife and friend's daughter after an apocalyptic event. THE HAPPENING costars Zooey... [More]
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, Betty Buckley
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
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Reviews for The Happening
Shyamalan's essentially made a sociopathic movie.
06/14/08
'The Happening' may not be M. Night Shyamalan's best movie, but it's his most provocative one.
06/14/08
Lacks scares, wit, humor and acting, and Zooey Deschanel, alas, has lost her cuteness.
06/14/08
It's clear that a once creative director is now running out of fumes, trying extremely hard to find something that hasn't been done before. The result is laughable.
06/14/08
Where the hell is Act III?
06/14/08
While there are certainly ideas behind it, the film lacks the bloated self-importance that plagued the director's last two efforts. This time, Shyamalan seems content merely to entertain us, and that's enough.
06/14/08
The Happening suggests [Shyamalan's] (con) artist's touch is waning a bit.
06/14/08
On a brighter note, the Wayans brothers have new material to make Scary Movie 5.
06/14/08
A creepy cautionary eco-thriller than neither cautions nor thrills. Instead of being full of dread, it's just dreadful.
06/14/08
I'm always amused by the sort of backlashes that Shyamalan is in right now. Well, M. Night Shyamalan makes vague, subtle fantasy thrillers. If you've outgrown it, don't blame him.
06/13/08
M. Night Shyamalan's worst film.
06/13/08
It's an interesting premise for a doomsday thriller, but Shyamalan botches it from the get-go.
06/13/08
Trying to understand the thought process of writer and director M. Night Shyamalan is akin to analyzing Jell-O. What keeps it wiggling and what binds it together? This particular circumstance also had an Alfred Hitchcock vibe.
06/13/08
just damned creepy
06/13/08
Feeble gust of an environmental horror story.
06/13/08
Top CriticWoeful clunker of a paranoid thriller.
06/13/08
Top CriticA patchy, uninspired eco-thriller whose R rating (a first for Shyamalan) looks more like a B.O. hindrance than an artistic boon.
06/13/08
Shyamalan tries to give the events a scientific underpinning. But his logic is spotty, so what are meant to be eerie moments are not convincing.
06/13/08
Both silly and preachy.
06/13/08
Latest News for The Happening
January 21, 2009:
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July 06, 2008:
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June 19, 2008:
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Two big star-driven studio comedies invade North American multiplexes on Friday giving audiences even more choices during what has been a scorching hot June box office. Steve... More...
June 16, 2008:
WNYC RADIO: A numbing polemical morality tale in dreary doomsday thriller clothing, this dull downer for all its mass panic attack high alert mode, may be more effective in unintentionally boring people to death. 
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