Christopher Orr “reviews” The Happening in a different way than we’re used to; by giving away spoilers on purpose. His reason for doing so? Because he believes you shouldn’t have to see the movie in order to talk about how bad it was.
“M. Night Shyamalan’s latest movie, The Happening, is not merely bad. It is an astonishment, so idiotic in conception and inept in execution that, after seeing it, one almost wonders whether it was real or imagined. It’s the kind of movie you want to laugh about with friends, swapping favorite moments of inanity: “Do you remember the part when Mark Wahlberg … ?” “God, yes. And what about that scene where the wind … ?”
“The problem, of course, is that to have such a conversation, you’d normally have to see the movie, which I believe is an unreasonably high price to pay just to make fun of it. So rather than write a conventional review explaining why you should or shouldn’t see The Happening (trust me, you shouldn’t), I’m offering an alternative: A dozen and a half of the most mind-bendingly ridiculous elements of the film, which will enable you to marvel at its anti-genius without sacrificing (and I don’t use that term lightly) 90 minutes of your life.”
His words, not mine. Though with an average rating of 4.1 on the movie review Web site Rotten Tomatoes, perhaps he is right on the money.
Source: The Movie Review: ‘The Happening’.
Hat tip: Kyle Slattery, Jason Kottke, Coudal Partners.
2 Comments
I think he has the problem that ever since Sixth Sense, everyone secretly hopes that the movie is going to be a mystery/suspense movie with a huge twist at the end.
The Happening is a horror movie. Expectations go a very long way in getting people to like a movie, and I really think that is where this movie fails, not in the actual movie, but that despite KNOWING that everyone has all these expectations, the trailers and marketing didn’t do enough to slap people in the face and say “This is a horror movie”.
Danny: I’m not sure if you’ve had the chance to see The Happening yet. If you haven’t, don’t.