{"id":195671,"date":"2025-12-21T00:59:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T00:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/195671\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T00:59:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T00:59:08","slug":"m-night-shyamalans-the-happening-is-terrible-but-the-perfect-christmas-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/195671\/","title":{"rendered":"M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening is terrible, but the perfect Christmas movie"},"content":{"rendered":"

Different people want different things from a holiday movie. Some want a cozy story that\u2019s expressly about the spirit of the holiday and what it represents. Others want to stick with their usual favorite genre, but spiced up with a holiday backdrop, whether that means a Santa-themed horror slasher<\/a>, a Hanukkah comedy<\/a>, or a Kwanzaa romance<\/a>. For some of us, though, the perfect holiday movie is anything that unites the family for a few hours, a distraction everyone can agree on and enjoy together. So here\u2019s my argument for M. Night Shyamalan\u2019s 2008 disaster The Happening as the perfect uniter.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be clear: The Happening isn\u2019t one of those \u201cWell, it\u2019s set during Christmas!\u201d movies that smart-ass cinema fans keep trying to sneak into the Christmas canon, like Die Hard<\/a> or Batman Returns<\/a>. It isn\u2019t even a cozy winter-wonderland movie: It\u2019s a sunny summertime story. And it isn\u2019t a \u201clost gem\u201d that was unfairly derided in its day, then rediscovered as a cult classic. The Happening is a terrible movie. But it\u2019s hilariously terrible \u2014 one of the best \u201cI can\u2019t believe they thought this was a good idea\u201d viewing experiences of the modern era. And it\u2019s a movie tailor-made for collective watching, for a lot of reasons.<\/p>\n

High school science teacher Elliot (Mark Wahlberg) and his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) are already going through some kind of struggle as a couple even before people in New York City suddenly start killing themselves en masse, via any means available. \u201cThere appears to be an event happening,\u201d intones one of Elliot\u2019s co-workers, in the first of many, many awkwardly written, ponderously delivered lines. With rumors circulating that some kind of bioterrorist attack is taking place, Elliot and Alma, along with Elliot\u2019s colleague Julian (John Leguizamo) and his 8-year-old daughter Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez), flee the city among flocks of other unnerved, displaced people, as eerie suicides take place all around them.<\/p>\n

\"Ashlyn
\n Image: 20th Century Fox\/Everett Collection<\/p>\n

Admittedly, that doesn\u2019t sound like a setup full of holiday cheer. (I\u2019d leave smaller kids out of any family group-watch: Some of The Happening\u2019s deaths are on the gnarly side.) But the joys of Shyamalan\u2019s movie aren\u2019t about the plot: They\u2019re about the stunningly ham-fisted execution.<\/p>\n

As the characters start to realize that the suicide-virus seems to affect people gathering in large numbers, they split into smaller and smaller groups, and heading further into the countryside. Elliot and Alma encounter a variety of strangers who respond to the lethal crisis in increasingly baffling ways \u2014 like the helpful man who delivers a breathless little impromptu speech on behalf of hot dogs. \u201cYou know, hot dogs get a bad rap. They got a cool shape, they got protein \u2014 you like hot dogs, right?\u201d Then, with barely a pause, he rolls straight into something he apparently thought was less important to discuss: \u201cBy the way, I think I know what’s causing this.\u201d (He\u2019s right, if you don\u2019t already know what\u2019s going on, and want the spoiler.)<\/p>\n

No one in The Happening talks or behaves like a real person, particularly Elliot and Alma. Faced with an unknown \u201chappening\u201d that\u2019s killing people around them, they have the pettiest marital blowout in cinematic history, with Wahlberg delivering all his lines in a strangled semi-whisper, and Alma spending most of the movie staring at him and everything else around her with a blank, teary, yet unnervingly unblinking stare.<\/p>\n

It turns out she committed the cardinal sin of going out for dessert with a colleague. (\u201cWe ate tiramisu together. That is it.\u201d) As revenge, Elliot aggressively shares that he almost wasted \u201clike, six bucks\u201d on a \u201ccompletely superfluous bottle of cough syrup\u201d at a pharmacy because the pharmacist was attractive.<\/p>\n

In defter hands, this exchange could be funny and disarming, a way of puncturing the tension. It seems as though Elliot is trying to convey, in a warped way, that he really doesn\u2019t think the dessert date was a big deal, and that he\u2019s sorry for blowing it out of proportion earlier. It\u2019s true that danger and stress can bring buried conflicts to the surface \u2014 even small, silly ones. But none of the movie\u2019s human drama ever feels human. In this particular instance, Wahlberg sounds bruised, proud, condescending, and constipated all at the same time, while Deschanel acts as though he\u2019s just revealed he\u2019s dying of cancer.<\/p>\n

Both of these actors have been terrific in other movies and shows. Their hushed, heightened deliveries in The Happening have to have been coached by Shyamalan, who drew similar performances out of his cast in previous movies. In The Sixth Sense in particular, Haley Joel Osment\u2019s whispery delivery perfectly fits the story, underlining that whenever he talks about his supernatural gifts, he\u2019s sharing secrets not meant for most ears. In The Happening, the approach just makes the actors sound hoarse and ineffectual, like they\u2019ve all been screaming with frustration between takes, and can\u2019t sum up the voice or energy to play their roles straight.<\/p>\n

But the script is the real problem in The Happening. The premise is unlikely, but also the kind of scientific stretch that most science fiction or horror fans would accept as the price of entry, if it weren\u2019t explained so poorly and brought to the screen in such a goofy way. The screenplay veers back and forth between blunt, purely functional, action-driven exchanges (\u201cStop the vehicIe!\u201d \u201cWhat’s going on?\u201d \u201cIs everyone aII right?\u201d) and desperate-sounding exposition designed to keep the audience from resisting the eventual reveal about what\u2019s causing the suicides. (\u201cRegarding honeybee colony collapse: \u201cI mean, science wiII come up with some reason to put in the books, but in the end, it’II be just a theory. We wiII faiI to acknowledge that there are forces at work beyond our understanding.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\"Three
\n Image: 20th Century Fox\/Everett Collection<\/p>\n

Apart from those two poles, every other line spoken in this film is a What the hell made anyone think those words would sound right coming out of a human mouth? moment. (\u201cWhy you eyein\u2019 my Iemon drink?\u201d)<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the thing about The Happening as a so-bad-it\u2019s-good watch: It\u2019s mesmerizing. It isn\u2019t a \u201cplay it in the background while you\u2019re doing other things\u201d movie \u2014 the endlessly weird writing and performance choices and the staccato drama of abrupt, violent death both demand attention. And it isn\u2019t much fun for solo viewing, either. The Happening requires a larger audience: a group of people ready to laugh together, companions in astonishment who you can exchange baffled glances with when you\u2019re wondering, \u201cDid Succession\u2019s Jeremy Strong really just repeatedly shout \u2018My firearm is my friend!\u2019\u201d, or \u201cAre those people really trying to run away from a breeze?\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve shown The Happening to groups of people on several different occasions, and it\u2019s always a good time \u2014 the perfect experience in collective bafflement and wonder. It\u2019s dark and grim enough to not feel entirely frivolous, and ridiculous enough to keep anyone from taking the horror elements seriously. It\u2019s also deeply weird and highly surprising: Just when you think you\u2019ve gotten used to the off-kilter line readings and mangled dialogue, someone will compare escaping a beleaguered city during a terrorist attack to buying a Cabbage Patch doll, or respond to a deadly threat with a shouted math problem. At the same time, the movie is a brisk 90 minutes \u2014 not too much of a commitment for a gag watch, and perfect for a veg-out break after a heavy holiday meal or a tiring family trip.<\/p>\n

The Happening is never going to make the annals of holiday movies, or be included in roundups of feel-good year-end classics. It doesn\u2019t have any uplifting moral moments, or cozy, comforting messages about people coming together as a community, family, or couple. But if you\u2019re straining for something to stream for the family that won\u2019t spark political arguments, bore half the room, or feel like every other Christmas movie clogging up the airwaves at this time of year, I heartily recommend The Happening. It\u2019s a stupidly oddball fun time \u2014 and at least it\u2019ll give you plenty to discuss afterward.<\/p>\n

The Happening is streaming on Hulu and is available for rental or purchase on Amazon, Google Play, and similar digital platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Different people want different things from a holiday movie. Some want a cozy story that\u2019s expressly about the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[146,85,46,397],"class_list":["post-195671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}