The Happening (2008)

"The Happening" is another toneless dud from M. Night Shyamalan, who made the brilliant "The Sixth Sense," the under-rated "Unbreakable" and then crashed, floundered, and sank respectively with "Signs," "The Village" and "Lady in the Water." Sold as old-school Hitchock horror, "Happening" follows a Philly science teacher (Mark Wahlberg) and his wife (Zooey Deschanel) as they flee from an unknown apocalyptic force rendering people suicidal. But it's really neither horrific nor suspenseful as Shyamalan fumbles much of the gore (a man feeding himself to lions at the Philly Zoo and another feeding himself to a lawn mower seem more Monty Python than Stephen King) while also revealing his mystery far too early. It's the wind. Wind! Leaves blowing! Ahhh! Boo. He kills every small morsel of grace with clunky stabs at comedy and two leads who seem bored, and why not when Whalberg plays better off a houseplant than his "wife." It's a weak liberal "message" film about the environment that would make Greenpeace turn red. "You deserve this!," a home realty sign screams as our heroes flee past it. Just in case you weren't paying attention. I see a dead career. D