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Happening Is No Big Event

But slow, silly film has its moments

By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff

Posted Jun 13, 2008 1:00 PM CDT

(Newser) – M. Night Shyamalan’s apocalyptic thriller The Happening is slow-paced and funny at times, leaving critics mixed in their reactions. It’s “too thoughtful for the summer action season, but I appreciate the quietly realistic way Shyamalan” tells his story, writes Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times. “It will be described as empty, uneventful, meandering. But for some, it will weave a spell.” In the movie, a father (Mark Wahlberg) tries to escape with his family.

Other critics are less forgiving. “The movie unwinds like a series of ghastly tableaux vivants pasted together with sloppy domestic comedy,” writes Manohla Dargis in the New York Times. Still, Shyamalan’s images “speak louder and more eloquently” than his failed dialogue. The theme: materialism will kill us and we deserve it. That may be true, writes Carina Chocano in the Los Angeles Times, “but at this point we also deserve a better movie about it.”

[Images (3)]

[Videos (1)]

In this image released by Twentieth Century Fox, Mark Wahlberg, right, and Zooey Deschanel are shown in a scene from "The Happening." (AP Photo/Zade Rosenthal)

In this image released by Twentieth Century Fox, Ashlyn Sanchez, John Leguizamo, center, and Mark Wahlberg are shown in a scene from "The Happening." (AP Photo/Zade Rosenthal)

From left, director M. Night Shyamalan, actress Zooey Deschanel and actor Mark Wahlberg attend "The Happening" film premiere at the Ziegfeld Theater on Tuesday, June 10, 2008 in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)

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Happening Is No Big Event