The Happening LIVE!
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bas.com slash bonkers and use the code bonkers at checkout. Hello, people of Earth. I wanted to give you a little bit of a warning before you listen to today's episode, because the plot of this episode's film, The Happening, revolves around people dying by suicide. And as such, that topic does come up frequently throughout the episode. So if that's triggering for you,

I wanted to give you an opportunity to stop and go listen to something else. Maybe a matinee Monday, maybe a whole different podcast. You know, Unspooled's got some really fun episodes lately. Anyway, this is your trigger warning. And if you're one of those people who's mad that you're getting a trigger warning, then do I have to do a trigger warning for you about trigger warnings? Anyway, I hope you listen. I hope you enjoy. And if you don't, I get that too. No, we saw the happening.

So you know what that means.

And hello, people of Largo! We are live here in Los Angeles for a movie that defies expectations.

M. Night's The Happening. What is it about? If you've not seen it, it's a movie where wind and trees team up as the most powerful enemy on the planet.

but only attack a very small section like the Northeastern seaboard. They're just not Ohio. We won't go to Ohio, but we'll just kind of stay in this area. Yes, so it is a movie where the trees are out to get us. Our heroes outrun wind. And what better hero than Mark Wahlberg?

Mark Wahlberg stars. He's married to Zooey Deschanel. And everybody they meet up with eventually has a gruesome death. That's all you really need to know. Oh, and this other fact. Nothing makes sense. Every choice is flawed. The hero is not a hero. But besides that, the movie is perfect. Now, to help break down this film, tonight...

Please welcome my co-host, Mr. Jason Manzoukas! What's up, jerks? That's right, Largo! Let's go! Let's go! This movie stopped playing. Boy, did I not like this.

This movie stopped playing and I was like, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. I don't think so. I think there's at least got to be 30 more minutes to this. You wanted more? You wanted more. I didn't want more, but this movie, this seemed to me to have the snowman problem. Like, I believe that they maybe didn't shoot 15% of the script.

Because that, in which everything gets explained, because this was, what if a zombie movie, but you're right, the zombies are just the wind. Yes. And what if all of the exposition dumps are just conjecture from a high school science teacher played by Mark Wahlberg? I'm sorry. I need my kid out of that class immediately.

I need my kid to have a new teacher. Immediately, my fictitious child. I think the movie is so pleased with itself that they're like,

They set up this thing. Oh, why are the bees dying? We don't know. And then the movie goes, what if that was our explanation too? Well, and we never get an actual explanation because every time he has an exposition dump, a new person joins, he's like, you know what? I don't know. It could be, what about, I remember I read this article about this guy.

doing this thing and who knows it could be that I don't know to the two teenagers he's with oh wait wait a second ladies and gentlemen June Diane Raphael welcome June I had to say something

I knew we were getting too deep. I knew it. You were taking way too long. I have so much to say about... But I also have nothing to say as well. And very little. The wildest part to me is that the actual... Oh, Paul. It's an audio podcast. No one sees this. No one sees me picking up my Tillamook cheese. What is that? Do you have a bunch of scratcher tickets? Yes.

Tonight, this audience will be walking home with Tillamook cheese products. What? No. We got these and they're like, they sent these to How Did This Get Made. Wow, Jason and I never even knew they arrived. You want one? Yeah, I do.

I do love this cheese. What? I like it too. This is good cheese. What? No. But yeah, it's great cheese. What do you mean? The sharp cheddar. This is good cheese. We're not a cheese podcast. The sharp. I'm not. I'm glad we're not a cheese podcast because they also have great ice cream. I was not. This is a non-dairy podcast.

I wasn't paid to say that, but it is, it's a great company. What? The cheese is great. The cheese is great. Let me just say this though. The craziest thing is that Mark Wahlberg, our hero, is not even the person who figures it out. Oh no. A random man who has a greenhouse

figures the entire thing out. I also don't like that. Is that the actual... Yes, he figures that it's the plants and the tree. It's the plants that are killing us and they're releasing a toxin because they have figured out how to kind of weaponize and attack. Plants strike back. The plants strike back. And what we find out at the very end, at the tail end, from the Carnegie Mellon professor...

Oh, it's a prelude. It's a prelude!

Is that this is the environment's way of attacking us. So it's climate. No, no, no. Yeah, a thousand percent. No, it's not climate change. It is an act of violence perpetrated. This is not like, oh, the plants are reacting. They make it seem like the plants are fucking mad. Well, they must be. The plants have authority. Sentience. Yes, sentience. And the plants are like, kill yourself.

Like, if you get too close to the wind, the wind is like... But this is... I did think that that was advanced for the plants. I will say this. And not heal someone else. Just yourself. Any way you can. What I don't like about this movie in general is... Everything? Yes. Yes.

And that it happens in so many different ways. If it was just like, oh, these plants are giving off some sort of toxin, I'd buy it. But the way it starts and the way it kind of continues, it's like people are killing themselves and weird. Some people are just like straight up

suiciding themselves, right? Other people are just, you know, jumping off a building. But it seems to be like some people really go creative. Like, I'm like, wow. Let's be honest. If this movie was real, a real depiction of what this happened, the minute this started happening, it would just be every 10 seconds a gunshot. Yes! In this country, just gunshot. Absolutely. Gunshot. Gunshot. Gunshot. That's it. Well, they have that.

section in there which is the most unnerving section. Bang. Bang. And that banging is going on and they try to explain the dumbest premise of the movie. Oh, it's attacking big groups but it won't attack small groups. Why? You're in a fucking open air field. I don't even think that. Is that even true? I don't think so. That's conjecture again from Mark Wahlberg.

I don't trust a goddamn thing he said. I think that was true for a time before the plan started mutating. I don't know. I don't know. We never know. But the craziest thing, the craziest sequence is right there when those gunshots are happening and then Zooey Deschanel, for reasons I could not understand, is like, we can't be innocent bystanders. We can't just be, we can't just walk.

We can't just be one of those people that walk, watch, that stand by us. I was like, get out of here. You should be running right now. You have a child to protect who's lost both of her parents in the last five minutes. This is the look of every shot. Get out of there. Every shot, every character looks like this. And this is them, I believe, looking at the script off screen.

I truly believe like this sequence though, in this very sequence, they're running away from the plants and the grass is this high.

The grass is this high and it's waving toward them. Yeah. And they're racing away from it. Wind. They're racing from wind. Or are they racing away from grass? Is grass part of this? I don't know. It's so compelling in Jaws. So you're saying the wind was carrying the toxins. Yeah, the wind was carrying the spores or whatever from the trees that was, I guess. I couldn't tell. Nobody ever confirms to me. I know, and I couldn't tell if it was...

the wind carrying the toxins from other cities, or if it, if that grass now had the toxins in it,

And so the wind was carrying more of it. I kind of feel like it's COVID, right? The trees cough, and then it goes out in the air, and then you get it. So it's like if you were in front of somebody who has COVID, then, oh, you might have a shot of getting it. And that's kind of what this movie... Paul, why didn't a single person in this movie ever just go like this? They never cover up! Never! Never!

At the end of the movie, at the end of the movie, the fucking scientist, Mark Wahlberg, is like, I'm coming to get you. We just, they were separated for two minutes. He's like, Mom, I'm just going to walk out in the field. Yeah.

Why would they do that? Why? No reason. They know it's airborne. You can write this out, I think. I don't know. Or maybe not. Can I just... I want to go like, yes, all this doesn't make sense. But really, what really doesn't make sense to me is the opening line, two women on a park bench. And the first woman says, as she's reading a book, I forgot where I was.

And then the other woman, who's reading another book, says, oh, you're at the part where the people kill each other. She's like, oh, okay, thanks. What? Yeah. Even for this movie? I wouldn't know where she was. She's reading a book. That woman, that woman then pulls what looks to me like a knitting needle out of her hair that she's using as a hair tie and stabs herself in the jugular?

The movie is full and her friend is just like, oh, the movie, the movie seems to, I feel like they shot scenes without some of the actors there so they didn't know what they were reacting to. Well, and that opening. A lot of times something insane will happen and someone will be like,

The opening scene, the opening scene, again, with these two women on the park bench who oddly are the only two not affected while everyone else is. Why? We don't know. We never find out the rules of the thing. There's no rules. So they go, she goes, oh, that's interesting. I see blood. Then they cut to the reverse. Just people in the park. No blood. She's like, oh, they're killing each other. Are they hallucinating?

Is this a dream that these two women have had on a park bench? Because I knew it was an M. Night Shyamalan movie the whole time, I was expecting at the end for there to be a twist that would in fact reveal all of the information I wanted in a way that would infuriate me. The twist is you paid for this movie. The twist is there is no twist. Ha ha, joke's on you. It just is bad. I mean, I just...

Look, very rarely on this show do we get into acting, and I don't think it has any issue with the actors. Everyone is equally, equally bad. And like everyone in this movie feels like they're doing an acting exercise. It's like you're going to talk about peanut butter sandwiches and you're going to talk about your shoes and you're going to try to have a conversation together. Like, I like peanut butter sandwiches. My shoes are brown.

Isn't it the most tasty thing to have? I wear my shoes every day. It's like, they're not, no one is connecting. I literally typed in the happening movie and it says, do you want to know why the acting is so bad? That was the first thing that came up. I do want to know. What would you find out? There's a lot of Reddit posts, theories as to why. Now, did you, okay, I have so many questions.

Why did John Leguizamo... Johnny Legs. I kept writing Johnny Legs, too. Why did Johnny Legs hate Zooey Deschanel so much? He hated her, right? A. B. He says and does everything wrong. He says in front of his daughter that her mother is missing, presumed dead, all because she wanted to go get Jess a birthday present.

Some dollhouse shit or something. Okay, I gotta go, little one. I was like, is she here? Can she hear all of this? I also think his plan is flawed, but I want to go back and I want to give you... Do you think he's Joey? Yes. Yes. I will say I'm not sure, but at the very beginning... No, that's what I thought. At the very beginning, he says that. Is that the twist? I don't think... I wish. I wish.

I thought that could be the twist. But then there's a thing which is like, at the very beginning, he's like, I walked in on her getting ready for the wedding and she was crying and she didn't want to make... She's not all in, basically, or something like that. But what did he see? She was crying before the wedding? That could have meant anything. I know, but the whole movie seems to hinge on...

They, Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel, need the events of this movie to bring them together as a loving couple. Can I just say? I'm here to say they should break up. Absolutely. They should break up. No, Jason. Minute one. They should be given a child. Yeah, no. Two. First of all, this lives in a movie, a world in which, yeah, if the parent, you could just take a kid. Like, you know, they're yours now. It's fine. Yeah. Like, they get a kid and then she...

I don't know. I mean, let people have babies whenever they want to have babies, of course. Of course. Of course. Of course. No one's judging that. They seem to be the legal custodians of Jess. Yes.

And she's just lost both of her parents, has seen multiple people die in front of her eyes. Dozens. Dozens. Time to go back to school three months later. Forget about that. But I'm just like, do you all need to have a baby right now? Like, you do have a child. That child is Jess. Yeah. Oh, hey, there's that. There's also like, do you guys need to have a child right now? Like, work on your relationship. Please. Like, there was a terrorist attack, a presumed terrorist attack. I don't know.

Hundreds of people are dying in the streets of New York. They are in Penn Station trying to get on that train to get out of town. The trailer makes it look like a bunch of people are on a train and the train stops and it's like, something's happening. But no, a lot of other crazy stuff happens. But regardless...

Zoey Deschanel is mad. It should have started there. She's mad that Mark Wahlberg has told Johnny Legs that they had a fight. And she's like, I'm going to go sit by myself. I'm like, A, an attack is happening as far as you're concerned. She's prioritizing all the wrong stuff. But also, this is what I was really struggling with, which was, yes, they're setting up that they need this really crazy event to happen to come back to each other. It's better than therapy. But it,

Paul, it's like, what did she do wrong? She went out for tiramisu. First of all, gross. Oh my God. If you're going to have an affair, if you're going to flirt with another guy. You went out for tiramisu? That's the weirdest thing to do. Don't go out for tiramisu. Go out for a drink. Have a cocktail. What? What? Tiramisu. Truly, it was a bad thing. Not for one. It's for two. One. Two. It was so weird. You had tiramisu.

And if I were him, if you told me you went out for tiramisu with a woman. Yes. What would you do? Record this. Honestly, to go out, first of all, I find it very strange when people go out just for dessert. That's weird.

That's weird to me. I completely agree. I go out for a meal, go out for coffee, go out for a drink. Yes. But adults that are like, let's go to Pinkberry. Weird. It's weird. It's weird. Honestly, kill yourself. Yeah. Listen to the wind. Do what it tells you. If you told me you went out for tiramisu with a woman, I would say, I'm so glad you didn't ask me to go. Yeah.

Joey calls her when she's on the train sitting alone. Joey's been blowing her up on her Nokia flip phone. Joey's calling her. She takes it and she goes, I feel like you're the fatal attraction guy and I'm going to see your shadow in the shower curtain. Okay. I'm pretty sure she's conflating fatal attraction and psycho attraction.

into one movie. Right, and I would argue that Fatal Attraction's most famous thing is the bunny. Is the bunny and boiling the bunny. It's not the shower. That's psycho. So it's two psychotic things. I think she's an absolute idiot in the movie. I really wanted the twist to be that somehow she was responsible. She was like, I fucked this guy Joey. He works at a wet market in Wuhan. Right.

I don't know what's going on, but the wind is talking to me. Today's podcast is brought to you by Squarespace. I love Squarespace. I'm in the middle of trying to balance my business life and my real life. This work-life balance, it's tough. But Squarespace has been helping me by giving me the tools to reach my goals and have time to celebrate. That's right. Squarespace is the all-in-one platform.

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I also feel...

And this is again where we get, I think it might be direction. When you first meet Zooey Deschanel, I think she's a great actress. She's fun. She's full of life. The way that they introduce you to her, it's like, oh, something's wrong. Like she hasn't left the house. She seems broken. She talks about herself and she says to Jess, don't worry, Jess, I don't like to show my emotions either. Boy, that's a tough thing to do.

for you to not be emotional in the face of what is unquestionably one of the most shocking and emotional roller coasters of your life. She's also just doing the strangest things during this time. Like she's playing house with Jess and that's weird. And I didn't feel like they had a connection and, you know, horrible things are happening and the wind is getting closer and closer. And she's like, Jess needs to go on the swing. Oh yeah. Yeah.

It took a couple minutes to let her play. Yeah, and then after they know, after they know trees are the enemy. Well, that's the thing is, and they keep cutting to the branch. They keep cutting to the branches. They're cutting to the tree being like, don't you do this. Don't you do this. No, no, no. Don't make me hurt you. Like the trees get reaction shots. It's like the trees are the shark.

In Jaws, it's like, oh, here comes the fin. It's like, here's this branch. Creak! My favorite moment in the movie, again, characters say stuff in this movie that no human would ever say, and my favorite line was, um, just go to the window near the big tree. Like, that's what the mom tells the daughter to do? Like,

Why would you go to the, why? Why are you telling me? Why would you, like, it's such a weird specific. Nobody talks like they would ever talk like this. When they all pour out of the diner, pour into cars and like peel out like it's Wacky Races. And Dick Dastardly and Muttley are going to be there. That's for the old people. And everybody's taking off and they're not letting them in their car. And she goes, why is everybody so crappy?

I was like, really? What? That's what she says right now? I mean, also, I do love... All right. Mark Wahlberg called in to a meeting of the teachers at the school, and they go, there's been a terrorist attack in Central Park. And he goes, huh, that's odd. Like, he doesn't believe it. Like, well, a terrorist attack there is just full of people. I mean...

That's weird. It's like all open space. Just easy targets, soft targets. How many years after September 11th is this? We got to talk about it. It's 2008. Because this is unquestionably a post-September 11th movie. Oh, yes. Yes.

in a way that is not cool at all. It is as if people did not live through that. Now look, they're in Philadelphia. Philadelphia works on its own thing. But I will say this. I'll tell you one thing that people in Philly won't do. If a train stops in Philbert,

Which he also doesn't believe. Where's that? Yeah. It's a fucking stop on the train, you idiot. But I did love... It wasn't like you were in a bat cave. It's like, yeah, you're at the stop. But when we were watching the trailer, June and I both said, I love that scene, which is just the conductors. And he's like, we lost contact. With who? Everyone. But this is my thing. Kill yourself.

I've been to Philadelphia many times. I like the people of Philly. You don't think those people are going to be standing silently having a chat outside the train. They'd be like, what a fucking weed up. Let's go flyers. They would fucking jump on that train and drive it. Everyone's like, huh? Oh, no. If this was a real train full of Philly residents, they would be eating horse shit off the ground.

Eagles fly! Fly, Eagles! We aren't human! The wind doesn't affect us! We're trash! Shit. Wait, the Eagles aren't playing the sun? It better not affect the fucking Eagles game. But it is weird. They're so polite. Why were there so many conductors? Oh my God.

I think they're all ticket takers. I think they're all ticket takers. Even if they're ticket takers, Paul, even if they're ticket takers, there were, I feel like there were eight men. Yes. Too many men. It's also, to me, I'm like, why would you just stop? We lost contact. Well, you know what? Let's stop.

Keep on going. Get the fuck out of there. The movie also has multiple, like, what are given to us as kind of jump scare moments that as they unfolded in reality would never have been jump scares. One of which is when all the landscapers have hung themselves. They would have seen that half a mile ahead. Oh, no. People are hanging from trees up there. But they get all the way to lawnmowers.

Lawnmowers. Whoa! Oh! The guy that lays down and lets a lawnmower run over him is my favorite part of the movie. Just like... But this is what I'm talking about. This is like...

So the people at the construction site, they just jump off a tall building, right? Great one. Awesome. By the way, very effective, I thought. These guys are in tall trees. And these guys in tall trees are like, well, let's make it a little bit more fancy. Let's hang ourselves. Like, there's lawnmowers there. They could all get in a truck. They put ladders into the trees. Yeah, they climbed up. They could fall off a ladder, break their neck. Did you guys not think? To me, the movie is a failure in microcosm.

by not giving us the B-side of the Chekhov's nuclear power plant. Oh, yeah. You cannot show me two nuclear tubes. What are they called? Smokestack. You got it. You can't show me that and then not at some point have them be like, and look, and mushroom cloud. You're telling me nobody listened to the trees and was like, boom.

I felt the same way. I felt the same way about Mark Wahlberg's mood ring. Why are we...

Why does he take it with him? Why does he wear it as if it's his wedding ring? He wears it as if it's his wedding ring. When he leaves that house, he's so frantic. He's got to get out of town. And one of the first things he grabs is that mood ring. Oh, yeah. And then he checks in on it a number of times. He uses it to bond with Jess. Yeah. He talks about it with Zooey Deschanel. But it never really amounts to anything.

Yeah, you know why? Because it's a fucking mood ring. What does it matter? No, it's a crass joke and I won't say it. I'd say if you put that ring on the girl, I'd be like, hey, purple, that means you're horny. I knew she wasn't going to lie. I'd be like, leave it in, leave it in, leave it in. But that mood ring represents, I think,

the best part of their marriage. That's the twist, right? If that's the best part of their marriage, they got to break up immediately. Johnny Legs is right. They shouldn't be together.

He doesn't like her and she doesn't like him. Yes, they are not well suited for each other. In the best of times, in the worst of times, like they're terrible for each other. I just don't also, from a perspective of just a little thing called character, I don't understand like what his flaw is. Like he's a scientist, not the smartest scientist. He seems to be pretty decisive, but not really a leader. And...

He doesn't really have any flaws. Like, he's just a guy. This is like... I agree, though, because I thought for sure what we were going to come back to was this idea of, like, he's too focused on the scientific method. He's too focused on, like, on variables and control groups and, like, he's got to think...

way outside the box that never happens no I mean no no no he's not that's not his job that's not his job because this scene right here this is like what any of us would do like a movie would be like some shit's going down I have an idea but he acts like I think all of us would act which is this I don't know the toxin the toxin is affecting them

Are those people killing themselves? You were with it, Private. What do we do? We need to do something. Just let me think. They're dying. I need a second. They released it? We're not near the road. We can't use the uninvolved observers. I need a second, okay? Just give me a second. We're not gonna be

I want to point something out because there's going to be a lot of people in the industry in this audience. So you'll understand these were the best takes they had.

They had to use these takes. Imagine all the other takes. I mean, the fact that he's like freaking out and he doesn't solve anything. I mean, he doesn't really solve anything. People are getting shot and that's the other weird thing about it.

We understand that, or at least the way I understand it, trees shoot out toxins. You start walking backwards. Well, let me ask you this. Can I ask you? I'm sorry to interrupt you. Can I ask you a question, though? Because the movie is constantly sort of giving us clues. In the scene just prior to this, when the woman is on the phone with her daughter, who's in, what a terrible movie scene. A movie scene where dozens of people are gathered around one person who's talking to someone on a speakerphone.

for whom the interesting thing is happening.

And she's like, just go get to the, what you were saying earlier. But then the daughter starts saying, I can see calculus. I can see in calculus. And I was like, this is a clue. This has got to be giving us. Nope. Just nonsense. But that's, but that was sign one was they get disoriented. But the movie shows disorientation by walking backwards. I'm disoriented. I'm disoriented. Like that's not disoriented. Disoriented would be like, oh, okay.

It would be more confused. And then the military guy's like, my gun is my gun. I'm like, wait, why don't you just shoot yourself in the head? Other people just immediately just kill themselves. Like he's going into full monologue. He's Jeremy Strong. I love it. I'm certain M. Night Shyamalan was like, just shoot yourself in the head. He's like, I got something. Don't worry.

I got something. You're going to love it. I'm going to do it whether you like it or not. Don't tell Brian Cox in 15 years. And he did. I thought what was happening is like the last thing that they said was what was getting sort of remixed. That does seem to be the case. But then not...

But for him, that's not what he was saying at that moment. Didn't seem like it. The calculus girl wasn't saying, you know, oh, maybe that's the thing. There are no patterns. There's nothing to hold on to and be like, okay, I'm piecing it together. This is the fun of a movie like this. No, especially because the end sequence, after all is said and done, we're now three months later and we're in Paris and the happening is happening again. Yeah.

I thought for sure, like, okay, this is different. This is going to be, this is where the twist is. No, it's just the same thing. Same thing. Same thing, but French, so who cares? Sacre bleu! By the way, let him go. Can anyone, and I feel silly for asking this, but can anyone just tell me what the cough syrup scene was about? I don't even remember that. What cough syrup scene?

When he goes, I went to the pharmacy and bought cough syrup. Oh. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Yeah, I remember. He tells a story about when she... After she tells him that she went on the pseudo date with Joey, he says to her, well, you know what? I should tell you that when I was at the pharmacy, there was a pretty girl... There was a pretty pharmacist, and I pretended to have a cough so that I could... And I actually thought about buying cough syrup just so that he... But then she's like, are you...

are you kidding? And he's like, yeah. And then she says, thanks. They're married. Listen, I... What? I think what was happening... Well, first, when it was happening, I thought he was having one of those mental remixes. And I was like, uh-oh.

He's going. But I think what was happening is he was trying to make her feel better, and so was lying. Yeah. But wow, is it weird. Remember when he's talking to the plant?

The best scene in the entire movie. You got it? Let's go. Let's go. They reveal the plant as if Jason Voorhees is in the room. Or as if there's a zombie in the house. Oh, no. There's a zombie in the house. I mean, the way they shoot this plant, this plant in the room in the corner, it's like, oh, fuck. It's like, kill yourself.

And now this movie takes it one step further, which is like, it's very calculated how each plant attacks. And don't you feel like, don't you absolutely feel like whoever, set deck, property man, whoever had to provide the tree, they must have gone through dozens of trees for M. Night Shyamalan to be like, no, that one's too nice.

No, I need a meaner looking tree. No, no, no. I need the tree to look like it's a monster. That's just like one after another. What about this one? This is a good shaggy tree. Here we go. Look at him. Look at his hands. I don't know. My name is Elliot Moore. I'm just going to talk in a very positive manner. Giving off good vibes. We're just here to use the bathroom. And we're just going to leave. There's no way you go home after this scene and go, that was a good day at work. Yeah.

This, again, in microcosm is the movie. It seems real and full of living things, but in fact, it's plastic. I mean, everybody they meet in this movie is insane, and they equally are insane. Oh, the teenage boys that they're traveling with for a while? Jared and the other kid? Then they say, when the kids are walking, and the teenage boys...

are like, what's going on with you two about Mark and Zooey Deschanel? And the kid goes, you have to take responsibility for your actions, man. I was like, this, I literally was like, this movie was written when M. Night Shyamalan unquestionably was in marriage therapy.

This entire movie is about saving a failing marriage. And that line spoken from a child is nothing but therapy speak about like, hey man, you need to take responsibility for your own actions. What? Jared, you're about to get shot in the head. I...

I mean, and Jared does get shot. This movie shoots a child, and oddly, that's like the most vicious. Yeah, two. Two, and we never see the shooters. We never see the villains. I actually thought that was a cool choice. Well, because we don't see bad guys, really. That's M. Night. That was his cameo. Who? Bam! Bam!

But my favorite thing was that guy was like, hey, hey, we're totally normal. Oh, black water, keep on shining. I'm like, you're out. I'm never opening that door. You are insane. You are an insane person. To me, though, that sequence, those two houses with the kids, the teenage kids and Betty Buckley?

Yes. And Betty Buckley. That whole sequence to me was the only interesting part of the movie. Agreed. Where I was like, oh, the horror of how people act under attack and in crisis and, you know, that was like, oh, this is, if this was the whole movie about we have to get out of our cities and deal with. The true danger is other people. Exactly. That's an interesting movie. Well, they kind of do that in that movie, like Leave the World Behind, that Julia Roberts movie that was on Netflix. Netflix is a joke festival. Look at the connections. Yes.

Yeah, they do, but that movie. Guys, watch Knuckles on Paramount+. I'm in it, no big deal. How did this get made? Brought to you by BritBox. And Acorn. Acorn TV. Disney Plus. The sequence with Betty Buckley, I thought was amazing. I was like, I love her. I love that she slapped Jess's hand. She's amazing.

Absolutely insane. You're telling me. I loved it. From the moment of their arrival, I loved it too, but from the moment of their arrival all the way through dinner, all the way till after dinner, they have not once mentioned to her that they have seen hundreds of people die at this point and that there is a, to them, somewhat global or somewhat, I guess not global, but you know, northeast specific situation

something happening that she is unaware of and they never talk about? It could be global because they stop getting news. I mean, the news in this movie is amazing. Like, that Central Park attack happens, and within minutes, like, okay, the autopsy show. I'm like, hundreds of people. You're already doing autopsies this quick? If those guys shot those kids, you know, through the house, I'm lighting that house on fire and walking away.

I'm like, fuck you. Gasoline, gasoline, gasoline, gasoline. Here you go. Here's my question. Goodbye. Here's my question. Why, why does anyone in this movie ever get out of a car? Yeah, great. Stay in your cars. Well, because maybe you have a hole in the roof. Why? One room. I mean, why would you get out of the car if you have plenty of hot dogs? Travel hot dogs might be, like, that is written by...

Like someone who doesn't live on the planet Earth. Well, we have our snacks. Get the hot dogs and the mustard. And make sure everybody... Do you like hot dogs? Do you like hot dogs? Do you like hot dogs? Did you get the mustard? Do you like hot dogs? I was like, what's going on here? Hot dogs, not a food that travels well and you have to cook. You have to do so much. I would feel... I would understand that if they were lines that a child was saying.

I want hot dogs. Can we bring hot dogs? Let's bring hot dogs. Do we bring mustard? I love hot dogs. This back to school season, spend less on your kids with Amazon. Now, here's the thing. I love back to school season, but I'm going to be honest. It's expensive.

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Friends. Oh, friends. You want a podcast? I'm going to tell you about one. It is called Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson sometimes. Now, after Cheers wrapped up decades ago, Ted and Woody have reunited sharing stories with their friends that they have met over the years. Kristen Bell, Will Arnett, Conan O'Brien, Jane Fonda. These are just a few of the guests that they have had on their show just recently.

to kind of hang out with and just laugh. It is a fun hangout show. What are you waiting for? New episodes of Where Everybody Knows Your Name drop Wednesday. Be sure to listen wherever you get your podcasts. Here's another question. Why are Mark Wahlberg's jeans so big? I have a follow-up question.

Why, when the somewhat of an apocalyptic situation is occurring, why did Zooey Deschanel only pack sundresses and light tops? Everybody's in like jeans and t-shirts like, we got to get out of here. And she's like, I'm wearing a beautiful flouncy dress. I was like, absolutely not. You can't be wearing like a slip dress at the apocalypse. Absolutely not. No.

No way. She is wearing the outfits of a woman who goes out to dessert with a man. Ew. Ew. It felt to me, yes, it felt like this was tiramisu wear. You know this resort wear? You know the tiramisu was her idea. That's not like Joey at all. Oh, yeah. I mean, if it was a formal, it would have been a tiramisu-san. I think that my big issue, and you know, you're right, like...

You both are right. That's the best joke of the night. At least my favorite joke of the night. I think that you both are right about Betty Buckley. I think the thing that I get hung up on is everyone that they meet is legitimately insane. Yeah. Like from the hot dog guy to the guy that kills a kid with a shotgun. Jeremy Strong, Johnny Legs. Johnny Legs just abandons his daughter.

Like, he gives her up and he's like, don't touch her hand. When they see the landscapers hanging from the tree and the girl behind him freaks out, he's like, I'm going to give you a math riddle. I was like, how about turn the car around? Turn the car around or just go...

Yeah. Just stop the, put something on that. His plan, his plan sucks. He's like, okay, I'm going to go what? Into the middle of Princeton and just be like, Susie, Susie. It's like, you would argue that she probably got the fuck out of there too, but they just assumed like, Oh, everyone in Princeton is dead unless she got out. I mean, again, it's also like, I felt so upsetting. I'm like,

This woman, whoever she is, his wife, like the last thing she wants, buddy, is for you to leave her child in the middle of like an apocalypse. With a couple that doesn't get along.

Yes, the movie exists in two polar extremes. Like Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel are too blasé and too flat, and everybody else is way too crazy. And that you just can't make anything out of. When he is walking through the house and he's going, Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Jones, he walks into a room...

A bedroom. Oh my God, yes. Where there is very clearly a little doll on the bed. And he goes, Mrs. Jones? I was like, no, absolutely not. You should know that's a doll. Mrs. Jones legs. Because I know that's a doll and I've seen it from behind your shoulder. So you can see it much clearer. It's a doll, you dumb fuck. Maybe, maybe.

Maybe it is a doll. Maybe she is a doll. Mrs. Jones? I would believe... Mrs. Jones? I would believe him looking at that cookie on the table and saying it more than the doll. Mrs. Jones? Mrs. Jones? I mean, this is a... Me and...

Mrs. Jones. Then, like mere moments later, when he is talking through the tube, he realizes that Zooey Deschanel and Jess are in the outhouse, but they can hear each other through the tube that connects them, which has been set up perfectly. Thank you, thank you, Betty Buckley, for setting that up. Anyway, he goes, what is it? He says, close the windows and the doors. This is

three quarters of the way through the movie when they know that the bad stuff comes that way. She goes, why? Why? Why? Why? We're having fun. Why are you ruining this for me? I hate you. Why? You're dumped. How about you're dumped? I would love it if he dumped her in the middle of the movie. Check that mood ring. You're dumped. You're dumped.

Is it purple? No, it just says you're dumped like it's a magic eight ball. Ask again later, but you'll still be dumped. This might be, in a movie with billions of scenes that are just meme-worthy, this might be the best moment in cinema history right here. I hear you whispering, planning on stealing something. No, ma'am, we're not. Plan on murdering me in my sleep. What? No. No.

Where did that come from? We never get an explanation why she's so nuts. I mean, I just want to watch it. Didn't you think this was also like a little bit of an invitation? Didn't you think she was also like, you want to come murder me in my sleep? Stab me. Stab me in my sleep, you bad, bad boy. What? No. Didn't...

Have the trees not told you that I'm absolutely great at blowjobs? Sorry, June. Plan on murdering me in my sleep. What? No. What? No. He says it. I think what's so funny about it is he says it with, like, no gravitas. It's like, did you eat my Oreo? What? No. No.

She just said, you're going to murder me. He's like, what? No. But for real, she doesn't even know what, she's acting like she knows there's a zombie apocalypse and that people might be untrustworthy. She's acting like that, but these are just strangers. These are just, she knows nothing. So why, we never understand, people's motivations are never. Well, she's just a crazy lady who lives in a house. So everybody's a crazy person who lives in a house then. Maybe she's a ghost.

Oh, by the way, I wish she was a ghost. She's a crazy person, I think, because she's alone. I think that's what we're supposed to take away. That she's had no contact with the world. So she's foreshadowing Mark Wahlberg if he gets divorced. Okay.

So you're saying that that's why this movie is so pro them getting back together because to be alone is to kind of lose it like this. Yeah. Like Mrs. Jones. Listen, the reason why I ran out in the beginning of the show is because we were talking, you guys were talking about that end moment where he walks out and she walks out and the virus is still on. And Paul, when we were watching this movie together, I was so upset that he wanted to walk out. They were safe where they were.

And you said, I'd do the same exact thing. That's what you said. I'm romantic. No, you said it. You said, I'd do the same exact thing. And I said, why?

I don't want, nobody wants this. Why would you do that? Well, now we also argued about another scene because we saw the scene where the guy was shooting people in the field and Zooey Deschanel was like, help them. I was like, no, run away. The man has a gun. You're like, no, run towards the bullets. I'm like, no. Absolutely not. Yeah, you got to run away. No, you said, no, you said if I heard people in trouble with a gun, I wouldn't.

run toward them. And I did say, well, not in this situation where there's, you know, the wind. In general, if it weren't for the wind, I think I would try. I think I would try to help. Once you realize it's from the trees, it's from the plants, it's from the whatever, which because everybody is frantically driving all over the place. They're going everywhere. There's only one answer.

Get on a boat, get in the middle of the ocean. I know, why does that take to the sea? Get to the water. What about algae? Get to the water. What about algae? I don't think that's part of it. The problem is, Jason, because I thought about that too, but the wind can get out there. You're right. You're right. Okay. The wind can get everywhere. I remember I was in Japan with my dad and my dad said, Was the wind there?

I'll be honest, these Santa Annas have been kicking up the last few nights and I'm like, what the fuck? I don't feel safe in my own house by my own hand. And my dad made a comment. My dad lives in New York. My dad made a comment. He's like, you know, those fires in LA have been really wreaking havoc in New York. And I was like,

What the fuck are you talking about? No, it's not. The fires in L.A. are making its way to New York. And he's like, yeah. And I'm like, I'm going to Google that. And he was right. The fires in L.A. That's the wind for you. That's the power of the wind. Yeah, the wind is...

Pretty fucking powerful. Please don't underestimate the wind. I'm so sorry. Are you now on board for the wind as a villain? I'm on board that the wind is the best carrier of the planet's evil deeds. You know what was totally... It's the worm tongue to the Sauron.

You know what I couldn't get on board for at all? And I kept being like, what is this telling me? Every chyron that appears on the bottom of the screen telling me where they are and what time in the morning it is. And I'm like, what the fuck is this for? Am I supposed to be keeping track of something? Am I drawing a map three blocks away?

North of Central Park. I have two pennies. I got to go to that car and see if there's a map. They're doubling the pennies. Maps are the most important thing in this movie. Yes. And that's also weird, too. Like, to your point, Paul, we never see, they are reporting on the news that they know all this information about what's happened to people and have done these autopsies. But we never see, like, the cleanup crew in hazmat suits or anything get out there. Like, we've only. We're still day one. We're still only in destruction.

We also keep going back and forth. Like, they'll be in one location, and all of the newscasts will drop out. The power will go, all this stuff. And then they'll go to another house, and there's a newscast on. Wait, I have a question that I don't think we've really addressed. Why does this just happen in the Northeast? I think it's because that's where M. Night Shyamalan is from.

Oh, I thought... He's from Philly. I thought that... This is actually very scientifically true. The plants in the Northeast have a much bigger attitude than other plants. They're just like a little bit over it. Well, I will be... I think part of it... And the plants are notoriously rude. Yeah. So are their plants. I think if the plants were to be like, let's fuck shit up, it would be in Philly. Yeah, you're right. Let me show you this moment, see what you guys think. Oh, my God, I'm watching...

Somebody get eaten alive by a tiger. Hey, everyone, gather around. Watch this.

Watch this torture porn I have. Oh, get the kids in close. So many people are watching it. So many people are watching it. It was so disturbing. Especially when we've been shown that Zooey Deschanel is using a flip phone. So, like, there's also smartphones with video. There's so much. I couldn't make heads and tails of it. And again, guys jumping off of buildings. Other people hanging together from trees. The guy letting lions eat him. But he was like... As funny as the lawnmower.

He pets the lion like he's drugged. The whole thing is like it takes away that one part of your brain that lets you hurt yourself. And I'm like, why don't you fucking attack the lion? You fucking jerk. Go out and fight the lion. Not just be like, lion, lion. Hey, you want some of this?

You hungry? You want some of this? Hey! To the point where when I was watching that, I was like, oh, the lions aren't going to see him as any sort of a threat. So are we to assume, I guess because the dogs don't, no animals are affected by this. Thank God. No, because they don't have lungs.

Again, what are we? What are the rules? It was so the workers jumping in the beginning, the workers jumping off of the skyscraper, the construction site. Very effective at setting this up as like, oh, that is that's brutal. This is crazy. I was also impressed that that construction site had an on-site medic. Yes. Yes.

They did not call 911. I'm a construction medic. What a job. My favorite thing about that construction crew is they tell a joke that is such a schoolyard joke about a big dick. And the guy's like, yeah. Like hitting him. Hey. It's like, again. That felt like a cold open of law and order. Yes. Yes.

And it said, welcome to whatever. Have a nice day. Oh, hey, wait a minute. Bum bum.

And then Lenny Briscoe walks in and is like, hey, looks like this guy took a dive from a height. He couldn't, like some, he's just got crackling one-liners one after another. And then Ice-T would come in and be like this, it's the trees. And then they threw the trees. Your Honor, this maple tree. Sam Waterston is like, I'm making a deal with the trees. You can't.

Let's go to the crowd. Let's see what the crowd has to say. And remember, if it's a good question, you'll walk away with a coupon of $18 value of Tillamook cheese. I don't think we should be doing this. Wow. But honestly, up to $18 value, Paul. Up to 18 bucks. That's.

So if somebody just gives us stuff, do we just promote it? No, but this is a nice team. No, they are advertisers on the show. They are advertisers on the show. Oh, they are? So should I not be saying this? Well, they'll cut that out. We'll cut it. You'll cut out my criticism? I don't think we should. It's not a criticism of the product, though. The product stands. Sure. It's good.

It's a good product. Ice cream, cheese, shredded cheese, whatever you want. Okay. Hi, what's your name? Dan. Dan. And what is your question? Um, based on something I read where M night said he fucked this movie up, not in those words, but like he admits he made a mistake. Did,

Did he fuck up a fun B movie or did he fuck up a serious horror movie? Because both suck. He wasn't specific about what the mistake... Does he think he made a specific mistake or he just missed the mark? Well, he did the Tommy Wiseau thing, which is reviews started to come in...

And they were bad. He goes, well, everyone's getting. We made a silly B movie. And it's clearly not that. But he did like, Tommy was always intended to be a comedy in the room. The room was conceived as a comedy. Where is this in his filmography? This is in a very tricky spot. He has had a bunch of

A bunch of failures. That's right. Okay. So Lady in the Water is the one preceding this. Before or after this? Before this. Oh, okay. A movie that June and I drove out of the movie theater. We were in a drive-in and we drove out. I was going to say, I don't know that I would call that a theater. When you say drove out of the movie theater. And he wrote this script. You can't drive out with the same sort of attitude that you can walk out with. But we tried.

He had written this script after Lady in the Water. He wrote a script called The Green Effect. And every studio passed on it. And they hated it. And then he rewrote it based on the notes that the studio gave him and then was able to sell it as The Happening to 20th Century Fox. Oh, so this is both a bad script and then studio noted into this? Shock of all shocks, it doesn't work.

Yeah, that's an odd choice. All right, yes. Here, name your question. Hi, my name's Marissa. My question is, who in the midst of a presumed terrorist attack approved and printed Killadelphia and thought it was a good idea? Wait, where was that? Oh my gosh. Where was that? That was, I can't remember what newspaper it was, but they cut to a newspaper and it says, Killadelphia exclamation point. Oh my gosh.

That's why we need printed media. Honestly, I would believe it if you said to me that is an actual copy of an actual Philadelphia newspaper that was not a prop and had nothing to do with the movie. Yes, your name and your question. Hi, I'm Jen. And I had a potential theory that is maybe giving the movie too much credit. Oh, I love it. This seems Tillamook worthy. LAUGHTER

What is going on with Tillamook? And now it's time for our Tillamook-worthy question. Now for our Tillamook question of the night. Don't make it cheesy. Is everybody getting their coupons, Paul? Some people are, depending on the question. Stop holding it up. This whole show has run Tillamook. All right. It's better than Tyrm and Susan. Although, both of them home runs.

I'm really proud of both. Okay, so you have a theory. Well, it's more of a sub-theory, but someone had mentioned the Chekhov's nuclear power plant. It was me! What do you mean someone mentioned? Someone on this show. There's only three of us. It was maybe ten minutes ago. Someone... Are you paying attention?

Someone mentioned... It was something... Someone over the weekend in this conference... I've heard tell of Chekhov's nuclear power plant. You know what? Go to hell. No, we... Credit where credit is due. I said that. Okay, yes. So my theory or my thought was that the nuclear power plant or this was occurring in that area because of...

accelerated plant mutations from nuclear power, and then that would explain France, who gets, I think, the vast majority of their energy from nuclear power. So I don't think it explains why this is happening generally, but the plant mutations...

I would love it if there was some sort of, and if an actual scientist came in, not just the guy on the news at the end, and not Mark Wahlberg, high school science teacher. If a real scientist came in and was like, this is what happened, and it's happening again. That was sharp. Extra sharp. Moo! No! If they were smart, it would have happened to the Swiss. Um...

I do want to just call out that they established pretty early on in the film that they know it's an airborne pathogen. All this to say that when they cut to one of the newscasters, she's outside at the U.N. And forget about the U.N., I'm just more focused on the outside. Like, Deborah, you go out, do it from the field.

So there's an airborne virus around New York City and I'm out here with the people. It's the worst news job you could possibly ever get to do a remote outside. She's like, I can hear the calculus reporting live.

I'm walking backwards. It's like when they send weathermen out into the hurricanes. Go out there. Go get that pathogen. Let's see what happens. Okay. Yes. What's your name and your question? Hi. My name's Kenan, and my question is, now, assuming that Mark Wahlberg continues to become a teacher, or continues being a teacher, and gets tenure, COVID hits, what is he telling his students about COVID? Well, what is he telling his students about COVID?

Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I don't even have, I mean. Listen, he, this is a teacher. Are we taking this seriously? This is a teacher. Why are we all like, huh? You know, that's a good question. No, it's not. No, this is a teacher. No, it's not. It's a fictional universe. This is a teacher who pulls out a student and tells him in the beginning of the class that he's got to start studying science because he's going to lose his looks.

as he gets older. That kid's name is Jake. And if he did not look like the spitting image of Jake Ryan in 16 Candles, I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Who's this hunk? I also like that he's like, you're an attractive guy, but you're going to be ugly. Like he compliments him and necks him. He necks him. He totally necks him. I think they're hooking up.

What's your name and your question? My name's Clint. I was actually going to talk about him negging his student, but one other fun fact, the voice of Joey was M. Night Shyamalan. I said to Paul, where was he? Where was he? Because he's like a real Hitchcock for the modern age. So that blows apart our theory that it is...

Well, Johnny Legs. Yeah. All right, there we go. Yes, your question. Oh, I see what you're saying, yeah. Hi, I'm Stephanie. My question is, so M. Night Shyamalan was credited with multiple hats, writer, director, and producer. So if you were tasked... And actor. Voice actor. Joey. So if you were tasked with fuck, marry, kill M. Night the writer, M. Night the director, and M. Night the producer, what would you do?

Well, I can jump in on this and say this. This is the weird thing about this movie. There are sequences in it that are really well directed. I agree. But the movie isn't good. So I'm going to, I would say you're going to marry that director because the director has a lot of potential. You're going to fuck Joey because clearly Joey fucks. Oh, yeah. Does he? Joey goes out for tiramisu. I don't know what Joey fucks. And he fucks out for tiramisu. Don't mind if I tiramis-do.

And they think you have to kill the writer. And again, I don't want to bring up, I don't want to bring up that, yes, I auditioned for old and I didn't get it. And they brought me back three times. And the third time, it was just, so-and-so, your paper's here. That was it, and I couldn't even get that. Oh, wow. I've talked about it.

All right, well, clearly we have opinions about this movie, but there are other people out there with different opinions. It is now time for Second Opinions. Hi, I'm Daniel. This movie's sitting in my shopping cart. Some people hate it, but it's closest to my heart. Got killer pushes and crazy grandmas. Shyamalan mixes a rom-com with drama. Five stars, five stars, mowers on heads.

Five stars, five stars, five stars, yeah that guy's dead. Mark Wahlberg pretends to have brains, but he talks to plastic plants, it's totally insane. Why's he so worried about the bees? Instead he should be more worried about the fucking trees. Five stars, five stars, it's what I gave. Five stars, five stars, five stars, haters behave.

I love it. Great job. Excellent job. Second opinions from Amazon. Average rating of this film, four out of five stars. Nope. 5,800 reviews. I feel like this is universally regarded as poor. I agree. So four out of five is wild. 64% are five-star reviews. 8% are one-star reviews. Retired Rosie writes...

I watched the happening years ago and found it thought-provoking. Kind of like The Planet Strikes Back. My 11-year-old grandson was tearing leaves off a tree, and I told him about the movie. We rented it, and we watched it together. He liked it. Time will tell if it's one he'll remember as I did. Dot, dot. Oh, wow.

That ellipsis at the end makes me feel like there's more to come. This is a confession. Hoppied writes, love the director. Can't spell his name, but he's my favorite writer and director and producer and sometimes actor. I like this movie. Five stars. I love horror movies. And this one was one that concerned me.

From Lakitra B, she writes, this movie brightens my day. I usually watch it online for free once a week, but my laptop isn't working. I'm so sorry. Is this movie available for free? Because I rented it for $3.99. I bought it. Discounted from $4.99.

I usually watch it online for free once a week, but my laptop isn't working, so I bought it from here, and the picture was a lot better. The title of the review? The picture is a lot better. Five stars. And this one is weird. All this COVID-19 craziness reminded me of this movie, so I thought it'd be fun for a rewatch. Thumbs up emoji. Five stars. Five stars.

You know what that just reminds me of because it's COVID and masks and all that is when they cut to the two old women knitting in World War II gas masks. I was like, how come more people just don't have gas masks? How come Jeremy Strong and his whole, like, how come the military wasn't given gas masks? Good question. He was too concerned about carrying that gun. I'm so sorry. Don't give me soft applause for that. I'm not looking for your tender applause.

You fucking weirdos. Good job, Jason. Good job. Don't pity me. Two little facts here that I thought were interesting was that the DVD contains a deleted scene of a piano recital that becomes so tragic that it almost gave the movie an NC-17 rating. Please tell me. Do we have that? I wish. Oh.

Sorry. Somebody please find and post that online. I'm sure it's online. We can find it. This movie, the budget was... Somebody find it right now.

Budget was $60 million. Opening weekend was $30 million. Domestic gross, $64 million. Worldwide gross, $163 million. Came out in 2008. The Big Year, Dark Knight, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Kung Fu Panda. This movie came in 45 of the top 200 movies. And it beat The Hottie and the Nottie, The Love Guru, Punisher, Warzone, and 88 Minutes. So there you go. It should have beaten none of those movies.

which is shocking because one of those was the hottie and the naughty i i like the tagline of this movie we sensed it we've seen the signs now it's happening yeah good in the village but don't tell the lady in the water got it got it got it do you have the clip of the guy letting himself get run over by the lawnmower

Oh, I don't. I don't have that one. Just that really made me laugh. It was so funny. Just how blasé he was like, I'm going to lie down in front of this industrial lawnmower until it chops me to bits. It was like daring the movie to show it. All right.

Would you recommend this movie? Jason June, what do you got? Yes. It is absolutely worth... Yeah, I would. Yeah, I would. I would. In the context of like watch it for this, for the podcast. And also, it is something to see. It's a nice 90 minutes. I said it earlier. I was shocked when it was done. Also, I mean, I watched this in the theater and I saw it again today, but it is... Who did you see it with? Did you have dessert after?

I don't remember. But I remember thinking this watching it in the theater, that the non-twist was so shocking and thinking, oh, it can't be. It can't be the trees. It can't be the wind. It just can't be. And then it was. And they reveal that it's the trees and the wind so early on. And to sustain that for the whole movie...

It is something to see. Yeah. It is something to see. I don't disagree. And in the context that you're saying, I agree. For the show, absolutely watch it because it's fucked up.

I'm shocked we've never done it before. Is this the third M. Night Shyamalan movie we've done? Might be. Fourth? So Last Airbender, Old, and this for sure are three that we've done. This to me falls closer to Last Airbender than Old in the sense of I enjoyed Old more. This felt to me like

confounding on almost every level and i mean it when i say when the movie ended i was like oh no no no i think we're just starting act three where we're gonna find out what the what this whole thing was about and it said no it's like he sends jess off to first day of school zoe de chanel is waiting for the results of her pregnancy test and then when she's like yes i'm pregnant

They have this shot where it's... They do a lot of scenes where anything that would have required a heavy emotional component, also Mark Wahlberg and Jess having their moment of tenderness off to the side, it's shot way far away. Like, they're over... She's, like, waiting for him, and she's, like, 100 feet away from him. He walks to her, camera stays put, and then she's like... LAUGHTER

And that is the, like, that's supposed to be, like, the catharsis of the movie. Like, they did it. They have, they do not talk to each other at the end of the movie, like, so that we can hear. It's private, but no, they should be dead. That's a sign of a good director. After you've seen a couple of these scenes, you're like, you know what? Maybe less is more. Keep them off camera as much as you can. No, this might be my favorite M. Night movie simply because it's,

There is such an earnestness to it, and it's so confounding on so many levels, and every character is full of bad choices, and there's no one to root for, and there's nothing to be excited about, and there's no resolution, and simply we're just like, it's like... It's happening to us. Right. But that's the thing is, even the happening, what? The happening? Yeah.

That makes no sense. It's like, you know, it's like you went over to your neighbor's house to borrow something and then all of a sudden they've taken you up into the attic and you don't know why you're there. Wait, is this from your book? Maybe. No, I just, I really, I mean, I, God damn it. What? What?

No. That is forever the best moment of all movies ever, in my mind. Everybody should know quotes from this movie. You're right in the sense, this absolutely should be baked into the cultural lexicon of absurd things the way that Showgirls is. Yes. Look, I gotta say, this movie is total cheddar for me. Good night! Thank you so much! Eat shit, LA!

That's a wrap on The Happening. Thanks, as always, to the wonderful staff at Largo and our recording engineer, Rich Garcia. If you want to show your love of this episode to the world, what better way than to buy a commemorative T-shirt, a shirt that we made that riffs on the cover of Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree with a tiramisu falling from the tree and M. Night Shyamalan written as the book's author. I actually think this design is pretty flawless. You can get that on a shirt, a mug,

an iPhone case, whatever you want. There's tons of great merch. There's tons of amazing designs. And remember, whenever you buy something at tpublic.com, the money also goes to the artist. So tpublic.com slash stores slash HDTGM. Now, next week on the show, we're going to be going over corrections and omissions for this episode, but I'm sure you won't have any. But if you do,

Leave me a voicemail at 619-P-A-U-L-A-S-K or write a comment on our Discord at discord.gg slash HDTGM. And guess what? June will be on next week's episode. That's right. A little deep dive. How did this get made? Crossover. You don't want to miss that one. And remember, Joyful Recollections of Trauma is available wherever you get your books. And if you're going out of town, it's a great audio book with

tons of how did this get made clips inside. The reaction to the book has been amazing. If you bought the book, I thank you so much. And just remind you to please tell people about it and rate and review it wherever you bought it, because that actually really helps and has been

spreading the word, take a picture, post a picture, whatever you want to do. I appreciate you all. And remember, you can find us anywhere you want online at HDTGM. And if you listen on Apple Podcasts, please rate and review us no matter what podcast app you use. Just rate and review like I just told you about my book. Now, a big thank you to our producers, Scott Sonney and Molly Reynolds, and our movie picking producer, Averill Halley, and our associate producer, Jess Cisneros, as well as our engineer, Casey Holford. We'll see you next week on

On last looks. Bye for now.

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