The Happening

2008 R

The Happening poster

Pre-emptively striking at the human hordes (including the disappointingly mousy Zooey Deschanel and Mark Wahlberg) in anticipation of xeriscaping coming to the East Coast, oak, grass, corn and rhubarb lash out with extreme prejudice. Negative points for not including in the ridiculousness a scene of a tomato plant throwing tomatoes at the actors. Extra negative points for M. Night Shyamalan choosing such a horrible title without turning it into a campy throwback reefer madness tale gone wrong. Can’t you just see it? “Oh no! The peyote Vishnu and Delorean ate is making them break all their Strawberry Alarm Clock LPs! Hide the lava lamp!” Bonus points for the hilariously gross deaths of a lion-tamer and a lawn-tamer. Roger Ebert says in his review that he’ll be in the minority in praising this film. He, for one, welcomes our new ficus overlords. I, on the other hand, consider it a cautionary tale about how we never fully appreciated our plastic ferns and recirculated air … until it was too late.