The Happening Review

Ooh its the new M Night film which means get your twist hats on people. You can dissipate your enjoyment ten fold if you guess the ending first. I'm guessing the main character is a dead superhero from the future with alien tendancies who loves small talking mice and in the end you find out it was all a dream about a one trick pony film director whose ideas are much better than the end result and who should really try doing something a little different. Either that or its about global warming.

But before we get to the end lets do the setup thing so that when you watch the film you'll have more time to try and ruin the fun for yourself. Marky Mark plays Elliot Moore the gayest high school teacher in the world. The kind of teacher that would have zero control over his class considering how wet he is. Inexplicably he is married to the lovely Zooey Deschanel who seems a little distant (probably because her husband is a tool). Anyway, everyone in New York starts topping themselves and Mark and Zooey run around tyring to figure out why.

When people compare M Night (do you like how I'm not putting his last name because it would take too long to type out and make sure I spell correctly? Thats good journalism that is) to Alfred Hitchcock its surprising that I actually agree. To a point. He's a great craftsmen and his films are always vaguely interesting in some way. He can master a jumpshock like no other and his ratio of hit to shit (whatever the film students tell you, Hitchcock made some, well, cock) is easily comparable.

He also can't direct actors for Werthers Originals and thinks dialogue is there to get his characters from A to B. One contendor for worst line of the year goes to "Mother of God what kind of terrorists are they?" I dunno, the cuddly cute kind? The kind that hand out lollipops on street corners? Lines such as this might have you rolling in the aisles but once the film starts to develop a little bit of intentional humour it starts to raise its game. Whether or not you'll make it that far though is a different matter. Because before that point you have to deal with the fact that it might, it just might be all about angry trees.