The HappeningMovie Reviews

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Avg. Critic Score: 34 out of 100 Generally unfavorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 Iffy for 16+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 75
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    A movie that I find oddly touching. It is no doubt too thoughtful for the summer action season, but I appreciate the quietly realistic way Shyamalan finds to tell a story about the possible death of man. Read full review

  • 60
    The New York Times | Manohla Dargis

    A divertingly goofy thriller with an animistic bent, moments of shivery and twitchy suspense and a solid lead performance from Mark Wahlberg. Read full review

  • 50
    The Hollywood Reporter | Kirk Honeycutt

    The movie seems more like a '50s science fiction film of extreme paranoia or an episode of "The Twilight Zone" that even at a swiftly paced 90 minutes feels padded. Read full review

  • 50
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    It's an entertaining movie, which is half the game, but it's not scary, which it should be. Neither is it something to be taken seriously, though it's intended to be. Read full review

  • 50
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    Some sure symptoms: The movie demonstrates a smart movie geek's obsession with the rhythms and gory details of horror storytelling, undermined by a pompous insistence on spiritual lessons of the tritest kind. Read full review

  • 50
    Variety | Justin Chang

    In short, this is a Shyamalan movie minus the bravado, the swagger; there are no audacious attempts to pull out the rug from under the audience, no ham-fisted lessons about the importance of religious belief or the power of storytelling. Read full review

  • 50
    Los Angeles Times | Carina Chocano

    It doesn't help that Wahlberg, whose work usually ranges from solid to inspired, is bewildering off-key here, though it may have something to do with playing off Deschanel, who reduces the whole marriage story line to a parody. Read full review

  • 38
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    Shyamalan isn't drawing the caliber of performances from his actors as he used to. Who can forget Haley Joel Osment's haunting portrayal in The Sixth Sense or that of Toni Collette, who played his mother, or Bruce Willis in arguably his best role? Read full review

  • 30
    Washington Post | Stephen Hunter

    He still sees dead people, only now they're the best thing in the movie. Read full review

  • 25
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Film critics have been asked to say as little as possible about M. Night Shyamalan's new scare film about the perils of messing with Mother Nature. Fair enough. But I will say this: It's not happening. Read full review

View more reviews for The Happening on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Horror film is long on peril, but thin on plot.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this tense horror film is the first one from writer-director M. Night Shyamalan to earn an R rating -- and for good reason. It's loaded with violent, bloody images and is much more graphic than the PG-13 movies that have earned him a following among teens. It revolves around people falling victim to an airborne toxin that induces suicidal behavior -- consequently, there's a constant stream of self-inflicted deaths throughout the film, many of them quite graphic (falling from heights, gunshots, car crashes, heads going through windows, etc.).
  • Families can talk about what makes a movie R-rated versus PG-13. Parents, ask your kids' opinion on the difference in the two ratings. Do kids think they're ready to see R movies? Why? Explain why you want them to see things that are age-appropriate, and ask them why they think the studio made Shyamalan's "first R rating" such a big selling point. Families can also discuss what makes a movie scarier -- seeing horrible things happen or anticipating them? Why? Why do people seem so eager to embrace visions of terror and devastation?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: The main characters have a somewhat troubled marriage; extensive discussion of "terror attacks" as the events in the film begin. One supporting character leaves his child with the main characters, a process that involves extensive discussion of human behavior in a crisis and responsibility. Many suicides.
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: Extensive violence throughout, primarily self-inflicted suicides through a variety of methods -- including a hairpin through the neck, leaping from heights, self-inflicted gunshot wounds, submitting to animal mutilation, self-inflicted car crashes, lying down in front of industrial gardening equipment, heads driven through windows, and much, much more. Two characters are blasted with shotguns on screen. Many of the violent sequences are quite bloody, and many dead bodies are seen on screen, from hanging victims to falling victims to bloody bodies in the distance.
  • sex false0 Sex: Not an issue
  • language false3 Language: Sporadic, including "a--hole" and "p---y."
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Only one brand is visible, on an Avatar: The Last Airbender back pack (director Shyamalan is making a big-screen version of the title, so it's likely a coy plug).
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false0 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Not an issue
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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