Fridae

Exactly what has happened to M Night Shyamalan? His movies are getting progressively worse. And perhaps, as an admission of his own creative downfall, The Happening is the first film in which Night does not make a cameo. (All his other films, including The Sixth Sense, Signs and The Lady in the WaterM, had him appear briefly.)

The Happening stars Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel as a married couple who are running away from an airborne toxin spreading across the country. The toxin induces people to kill themselves, causing massive deaths in towns and cities. But it appears that the toxin is not just some accident man-made by-product, but the seed of something else, something more natural...

Laudable in concept but lousy in execution, The Happening is by far the worst film in Night's oeuvre. Much of the dialogue is stiff, the acting inferior and the direction pure haphazard. It's the biggest disappointment of the summer movie season, along with Speed Racer and The Incredible Hulk.

Avoid this like an airborne toxin...