Do you remember when director M. Night Shyamalan could do no wrong? It seems like such a long time ago, doesnât it? The Sixth Sense was a legitimately great movie, and Unbreakable was a strong take on a superhero movie before superhero movies were common! Signs was…alright.
So, where did it all go south for Shyamalan? Was it the reveal of The Village? Was it Shyamalanâs overreliance on twist endings? Or could it be the way that Shyamalan cast himself as a writer destined to shape the world with his ideas in Lady in Water?
The newest Honest Trailer points an accusatory finger at The Happening, Shyamalanâs 2008 film in which mankind faces an extinction level event…because of the plants and trees. The Happening star Mark Wahlberg put it best in an interview from 2010. âIt was a really bad movie… F— it. It is what it is. F—ing trees, man. The plants. F— it. You canât blame me for not wanting to try to play a science teacher. At least I wasnât playing a cop or a crook.â
This weekâs HT has an instant classic line: âMark Wahlberg delivers a Donnie Wahlberg level performance as Elliot Moore, a science teacher with one facial expression.â As amusing as that line is, itâs still an insult to Donnie Wahlberg. Therefore, we propose a slight change to the line: ââMark Wahlberg delivers a Transformers: Age of Extinction level performance.â Seriously though, can you tell the Mark Wahlberg characters apart in those movies?
Future New Girl star Zooey Deschanel co-starred in The Happening as Wahlbergâs onscreen wife, and the woodenness of her performance is gleefully pointed out in the Honest Trailer. And as mentioned in the HT itself, The Happening may be one of the best comedies of 2008. Unfortunately, it was trying to be a horror movie.
Movie fans, do you agree with Honest Trailersâ take on The Happening? Cut down the trees and share your opinions below!