Morgan Bell
Kynaston
REVIEW: The Happening
November 4th 2008 11:32
OK so now that my laughter has subsided . . .
Directed & Written: M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Signs, Unbreakable, The Village)
Starring: Mark Wahlberg (The Departed, Boogie Nights), Zooey Deschanel (Eulogy, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), John Leguizamo (Moulin Rouge, Romeo & Juliet), Betty Buckley (TVs Eight Is Enough, Carrie, singer on Broadway)
M. Night Shyamalan
M. Night Shyamalan
"The Happening" could quite possibly be the most unintentionally funny movie ever made. Or did M. Night Shyamalan do it intentionally? Is the man in on the joke? Or are we laughing at him? It's a tough call because Shyamalan's reputation for the corny and righteous has preceded him. Had this been a film made by anyone other than Shayamalan, it would be considered a masterpiece parody of Shyamalan!
The film has a similar feel to other "genre homage" movies that have been released lately. Tarantino replicating 70s sexploitation and car-chase films with "Death Proof" (2007), or comedies like Peyton Reed's "Down With Love" (2003) nodding their head to old Doris Day movies from the 60s. If Shyamalan was anyone other than Shyamalan you might think this is a really clever head nod to 50s disaster films. The disaster is completely ridiculous and the characters respond in irrational panic. Funny right? But is it supposed to be?
Mark Wahlberg seems like an actor with a good sense of humour. His over-exaggerated facial expressions and deadpan delivery of absurd dialogue make you think he must be in on the joke. Zooey Deschanel is a comic actress, she looks stunned throughout the film, its not dramatic acting, it looks like a comedian doing a spoof skit. Is it possible that all the actors were having a private joke behind Shyamalan's back?
This movie reminds me of a Stephen King book I started reading called "Cell". I ended up putting it down because I felt it was too heavy-handed an unrealistic. Radio waves from cell phones were causing people to fly into unprovoked rages and murder people. King is vocally proud of the fact that he has never owned a cell phone, and in this context it just seemed like a technophobe grinding their axe about a global trend they had not kept up with. The themes in "Cell" and "The Happening" are similar in that the villain is invisible, but Im at a loss to understand what axe (if any) Shyamalan is trying to grind!
If I give Shyamalan the benefit of the doubt I could assume that he is poking fun at the hysteria created by the 1938 Orson Welles radio play War Of The Worlds, or the perpetual paranoia of baby boomers with their doomsday clock waiting for a nuclear bombs to be dropped during the cold war. Nuclear waste and terrorism are mentioned in "The Happening" both as primary causes of poisoning and as explanations as to why the vegetation of New England would mutate to kill us out of self-preservation. If I had any faith in Shyamalan I might think this was an incredibly insightful element of the film, I might think he was commenting on the human tendancy to jump to conclusions and expect the worst . . .
But do I have any faith?
Not really - the themes of family and togetherness and love conquering all are still there as trademark Shyamalan. There is the niggling suggestion that humans will bring an armageddon of biblical proportions if we dont improve our morality and treat our earth and our fellow man better. Whether it is birds, or killer tomatoes, or locusts, or airborn toxins from angry plants, it is clear that Shyamalan intends to use this film as a warning about tampering with nature. Maybe that is his axe?
"The Happening" will go down in history as a cult film because it is incredibly funny, full stop. It is also contains genuinely frightening suspense scenes that take place in creepy derelict farmhouses and abandoned country roads. Shyamalan is amazing at framing scenes (or is that his cinematographer Tak Fujimoto?) and lighting to create the maximum amount of tension and terror - there is perhaps noone scarier. But as a writer he is practically schitzophrenic and unable to focus on any one theme. He wants to tell you everything all at once and the result is just bizarre. Funny, but bizarre! Somehow he has fluked a comedy, but somehow I dont we are laughing at the bits he thought we would!
CLICKHERE for my companion post "The Happening: learn and laugh"
Directed & Written: M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Signs, Unbreakable, The Village)
Starring: Mark Wahlberg (The Departed, Boogie Nights), Zooey Deschanel (Eulogy, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), John Leguizamo (Moulin Rouge, Romeo & Juliet), Betty Buckley (TVs Eight Is Enough, Carrie, singer on Broadway)
We're making a B movie. If the themes of the movie stick with you then great, but we're not going to put that in front of the movie. We're going to have a lot of fun. It's a paranoia movie and we just need to pound away at it. That's our job. So I was really clear about that.
M. Night Shyamalan
I got this very scary idea for a movie, and that's The Happening.
It's kind of like [Alfred Hitchcock's] Birds -- it has that feeling to it, where people are trapped in an area where something bizarre is happening.
It's kind of like [Alfred Hitchcock's] Birds -- it has that feeling to it, where people are trapped in an area where something bizarre is happening.
M. Night Shyamalan
"The Happening" could quite possibly be the most unintentionally funny movie ever made. Or did M. Night Shyamalan do it intentionally? Is the man in on the joke? Or are we laughing at him? It's a tough call because Shyamalan's reputation for the corny and righteous has preceded him. Had this been a film made by anyone other than Shayamalan, it would be considered a masterpiece parody of Shyamalan!
The film has a similar feel to other "genre homage" movies that have been released lately. Tarantino replicating 70s sexploitation and car-chase films with "Death Proof" (2007), or comedies like Peyton Reed's "Down With Love" (2003) nodding their head to old Doris Day movies from the 60s. If Shyamalan was anyone other than Shyamalan you might think this is a really clever head nod to 50s disaster films. The disaster is completely ridiculous and the characters respond in irrational panic. Funny right? But is it supposed to be?
Mark Wahlberg seems like an actor with a good sense of humour. His over-exaggerated facial expressions and deadpan delivery of absurd dialogue make you think he must be in on the joke. Zooey Deschanel is a comic actress, she looks stunned throughout the film, its not dramatic acting, it looks like a comedian doing a spoof skit. Is it possible that all the actors were having a private joke behind Shyamalan's back?
This movie reminds me of a Stephen King book I started reading called "Cell". I ended up putting it down because I felt it was too heavy-handed an unrealistic. Radio waves from cell phones were causing people to fly into unprovoked rages and murder people. King is vocally proud of the fact that he has never owned a cell phone, and in this context it just seemed like a technophobe grinding their axe about a global trend they had not kept up with. The themes in "Cell" and "The Happening" are similar in that the villain is invisible, but Im at a loss to understand what axe (if any) Shyamalan is trying to grind!
If I give Shyamalan the benefit of the doubt I could assume that he is poking fun at the hysteria created by the 1938 Orson Welles radio play War Of The Worlds, or the perpetual paranoia of baby boomers with their doomsday clock waiting for a nuclear bombs to be dropped during the cold war. Nuclear waste and terrorism are mentioned in "The Happening" both as primary causes of poisoning and as explanations as to why the vegetation of New England would mutate to kill us out of self-preservation. If I had any faith in Shyamalan I might think this was an incredibly insightful element of the film, I might think he was commenting on the human tendancy to jump to conclusions and expect the worst . . .
But do I have any faith?
Not really - the themes of family and togetherness and love conquering all are still there as trademark Shyamalan. There is the niggling suggestion that humans will bring an armageddon of biblical proportions if we dont improve our morality and treat our earth and our fellow man better. Whether it is birds, or killer tomatoes, or locusts, or airborn toxins from angry plants, it is clear that Shyamalan intends to use this film as a warning about tampering with nature. Maybe that is his axe?
"The Happening" will go down in history as a cult film because it is incredibly funny, full stop. It is also contains genuinely frightening suspense scenes that take place in creepy derelict farmhouses and abandoned country roads. Shyamalan is amazing at framing scenes (or is that his cinematographer Tak Fujimoto?) and lighting to create the maximum amount of tension and terror - there is perhaps noone scarier. But as a writer he is practically schitzophrenic and unable to focus on any one theme. He wants to tell you everything all at once and the result is just bizarre. Funny, but bizarre! Somehow he has fluked a comedy, but somehow I dont we are laughing at the bits he thought we would!
CLICKHERE for my companion post "The Happening: learn and laugh"
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Comment by Cheryl J
Rhythmatism
Budget Centsability
Wouldn't that be a kicker if he has made this a comedy while actually intending it to be serious?
I think I'm really going to have to see this now.
PS: I love Zooey as well, she's always so deadpan but funny.
Comment by Morgan Bell
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i think the cast and crew forgot to send Shyamalan the memo that they were making a comedy - you HAVE to watch it! (watch it when you are feeling a little dazed and confused, it will heighten the funny factor!)
i wish he would hire a good writer to rework his endings - then he might be able to regain a sliver of respect in the movie world!
Comment by Cheryl J
Rhythmatism
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Comment by Morgan Bell
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yep its on DVD now . . . i think i will seriously buy it if i see if for cheap anywhere (and i KNOW its gunna go straight to the bargain bins haha)
any time im feeling dopey or delirious ill be rushing to the DVD player to relive the great times i had with The Happening!
Comment by Jason King
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Comment by Morgan Bell
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i remember you could have done a two word review - "its shit" haha - but somehow i managed to expand it out into a mammoth analysis . . . what can i say, its just fuckn FUNNY!
i swear i was sober when i watched it, it was just so bizarre it made me feel disoriented!
thanks for stopping in!
Comment by Jason King
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Comment by Morgan Bell
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well its all worth it if i make you smile!
Comment by ShaunK
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Comment by Morgan Bell
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i thought Signs was fairly average, and Lady was just terrible, but all the other ones have been quite suspenseful! (well they had my soft little brain going anyway! lol)
i think hes an excellent director, but as a writer he has just run out of ideas and is trying to rehash the same old stuff over and over!
thanks for the comment!
Comment by Jason King
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Comment by Morgan Bell
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if i was in charge of a studio (which im sure i will be one day haha) i would only employ him as a director on the condition that he accepts a co-writer or re-writer on the script . . . it would be a firm "no" on inserting family values at inappropriate times!
im finding his dialogue increasingly ridiculous - almost as though hes never heard a real person speak before? weird . . .
Comment by ShaunK
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Comment by Movie Mall
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Maybe when I need a little pick me up I'll give it a go.
Comment by Morgan Bell
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watch it as a hilarious piece of popculture - if you take it seriously you will be disappointed!
thanks for the comment!