Interesting review from an IMDB poster
...Of course, the critics don't like this movie, and it's getting slammed with hateful comments and criticisms, and before seeing the movie today, I was extremely worried that it would suck. And then when I walked out of the theater after it was over, I realized something: Critics don't know what the hell they're talking about, and neither do you. No, I am NOT a fanboy of Night.. I'm anything BUT a fanboy. I'm just a guy who likes movies, and if I see something that's crappy, I'll tell you, no matter who made it.
The problem with the critics (and the other haters) is that they were watching a completely different movie than me. They were looking at things in a totally different perspective, and I'll admit, if I were looking at things the way everyone else was, I'd think this movie sucked too. I think that critics walk into certain movies with hatred toward a certain director, with the clear decision that they will hate the movie before the movie begins, and that's exactly what will happen everytime, because they're not trying to FOCUS on the film and what it's doing and what it's saying; they're focusing on everything ELSE.
( SPOILERS!! )
Example: The acting. Everybody is saying that the acting is horrible, terrible, embarrassing, cringe-worthy. You're not looking close enough. These performances (from Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel) are working on two levels, and maybe your brain just can't comprehend it. Both characters are "childish", in that their actions and dialogue seem juvenile and adolescent. It's hard to explain unless you see the movie, but it seems like the characters are supposed to be children who appear to be adults, and by the time the movie is over and they put aside their childish problems and discover that they love each other, they grow up and become adults. And it's a message for society. GROW UP, stop fighting, and love one another, and there won't really be a problem.
I'll give you examples. Mark Wahlberg in the beginning, in the classroom... running from the Vice Prinicpal, ducking behind students, flicking off the lights, much like a child. Zooey looking at her cell phone, constantly trying to hide it and stop it while it's vibrating, like it's a toy, and her rolling her eyes playfully, childishly. Mark Wahlberg telling Zooey about flirting with the pharmacist and buying cough syrup, making the story up just for "revenge", and I swear to God, I thought he'd stick his tongue out at her, like "Na na na na NA NA!" but it didn't happen. Or talking to the plant. Silly. Childish. And they wear MOOD RINGS!! What adults do you know who wear mood rings??? I could go on for days and days about these performances that you call "bad acting", but trust me, this was intentional, and it was brilliant. And you didn't see it. Shame on you.
See, the mood for "love" on a mood ring would appear GREEN, which is what Mark's mood ring had. Green. Green means love, and if the plants / toxins attack based on the "mood" of it's prey/enenemy, it would attack it's prey based on the energy that they were giving off. In this case, the human race as a whole is emitting negative energy, with hate, violence, and the toxin was trying to defend itself because it saw humans as a threat. When the wind/toxin is blowing through Mark and Zooey at the end, when their color is green (Love), the toxin blows away and does NOT effect them, because they're giving off an energy of LOVE, rather than hate, violence, and panic like everyone else. That's why the old lady died at the end. That's why the two little boys got shot. Negative energy, confusion, panic. And Mark and Zooey would have died, had they continued their "childish" games. By the end, they grow up, and they realize that they love each other, and love is the ultimate cure. Love is "THE GREEN EFFECT" (the original title of the film).
This "bad acting" that you all speak of is actually a part of the whole message/theme of the film, and it's not bad acting at all. It's GOOD acting, very very GOOD acting. We as a human race have become big children, acting stupid, not being responsible for our actions, and we constantly emit negative energy with hateful words and actions. What would happen if something came into the air that could READ that energy, and it tried to defend itself by wiping us out? Would we continue to be negative and hateful and panicky, or would we try to stick together and try to love one another? I'm going with the first, which is what the film is saying. Mark and Zooey overcame that, by feeling LOVE instead of HATE, and they were okay, even though the toxin was blowing all around them. However, the last scene clearly shows that "the happening" is happening all over the world now, and even though Mark and Zooey defeated it, it takes more than just two people to stop it. The human race has to collectively give off positive energy, or else it will just keep "happening", and we see that it is indeed still "happening."
