The Happening wavers between ultimate narm (RUN AWAY FROM THE WIND!), self-parody ("Do you like hotdogs?") and genuine scariness (the first five minutes, Suicide by Cop, the house with the paranoid old couple). Even the plot - plants think humans are jerks, and so they selectively evolve to make humans kill themselves as painfully and creatively as possible - is nothing but unintentional hilarity.
- "What? Nooooo..." Clip here
. - Seeing someone get torn apart by lions should by all means be horrifying. And then a woman watching this asks, "What kind of terrorists are these??" In context, she's talking about the public's previous belief that all the deaths had been caused by a terrorist attack, and expressing her disbelief when presented with evidence that it's something else, but the framing of the scene makes it look like she thinks the lions are the terrorists.
- "Why you eyein' my lemon drink?" Spoken by an Ax-Crazy Survivalist.
- "Cheese and Crackers."
- "I went up and asked her where the cough syrup was. I didn't even have a cough. And I almost bought it. I'm talking about a completely superfluous bottle of cough syrup, which costs like six bucks."
- Elliot singing "Black Water" by The Doobie Brothers in order to prove they're "perfectly normal". Spencer Breslin's unintentional Aside Glance just seals the deal.
- One man commits suicide by lying underneath a lawnmower. It is just as hilarious as it sounds.
- In general, Zooey Deschanel's mannequin-esque performance as Alma, staring dead eyed wherever, whenever.
- As The Nostalgia Critic points out, her facial expressions throughout the movie make it look like she's just shit her pants.
- This hilarious exchange:
- Alma: We can't just stand here as uninvolved observers!
Elliot: Gimme a second, okay, just gimme a second!
Alma: We're not gonna be one of those assholes on the news that watches a crime happen and not do something, we're not assholes!
Elliot: Just a second!
Unnamed Woman: There were children in that group!
Alma: Elliot, please tell us what to do!
Elliot: I NEED A SECOND, OKAY, WHY CAN'T ANYONE GIMME A GODDAMN SECOND! ... Be scientific, douchebag!
- A lot of the deaths can be unintentionally hilarious, such as Julian's driver slowing to a dead stop in the middle of the street, then flooring the accelerator and driving the Jeep into a tree.
- During class, Elliot tries to encourage a bored student to invest himself more in his lessons. Why? Because his face is perfect. For bonus laughs, a girl to the left of Elliot responds as if she's thinking '...what on Earth are you talking about?'
- Also in class, Elliot elicits speculation from his students as to why bees are disappearing. The last student says something to the effect of "it's an act of nature and we'll never fully understand it." Elliot acts proud. The problem is that science works only because we can understand acts of nature; science only operates on the natural world. M. Night apparently believes that science is magic.
- Julian’s suicide after surviving his driver’s suicide by car crash is supposed to be heartbreaking for the viewer, but the scene plays out so deadpan (right after the driver’s fatal car crash, Julian walks right out of the wreckage as if nothing had happened, plops down and uses the car’s broken glass to slit his wrists) that it is almost comedic.
- Alma’s moaning and fretting over her ‘affair’… which is revealed to have been her telling Elliot she had to work late, only to go out for dessert with a colleague.
- Alma’s line “I don’t like to show my emotions.” It’s very hard not to suspect that Shyamalan added that line as a desperate attempt to salvage her performance.
- Alma's line: "It makes you kill yourself. Just when you thought there couldn't be any more eeevil that could be invented."
- Both lead performances are full of odd enunciation and bad acting. While some might debate Deschanel’s ability, Wahlberg is usually respectable, which can lead the audience to wonder if they were just struggling with the script.
- There are so many shots of Wahlberg's face trying to look horrified that fail. And then there are all the times that the actors pretend they're crying... unconvincingly.
- The repeated presence of boom mics in frame in indoor shots caused many audiences to burst out laughing at what were apparently intended as quiet, emotional scenes. That cannot be deliberate!
- That scene with the shotgun blasting those children through the window and a slow-mo NOOO is far too over-the-top.
- The film's attempt at Techno Babble: it makes your brain Reverse Polarity!
- Marky Mark, all terrified of the old bat's sex doll.
- The ending is hilarious - the plants start killing the French, further reinforcing their place as the world's Butt-Monkey.
- This alternate opening is pure unintentional comedy gold. It starts with Elliot walking into Alma's room with a box of Honey Crunch cereal and Alma throwing a ceramic doll at him. Particularly entertaining is Alma's line "How can you be sure? I almost hurt you. My God, I almost hurt you, soon you'll find severed body parts of strangers in the freezer Elliot, this is how it starts!", an awkward segue into a discussion of rocky road ice cream, and Alma seeing a man urinating in their garbage when she leaves the house the next day. It works really well with a Laugh Track.
