“The Happening”: Eh.

For some reason tonight, I ended up reading the entire leaked screenplay to The Happening, the new summer release from Hollywood’s greatest plot-twist-gimmick guy, M. Night Shyamalan. (And starring former 1835 Hinman resident Zooey Deschanel!)

My verdict: it seems worth skipping. There isn’t really any big plot twist, because the nature of the beast becomes evident pretty early on. Maybe it would be cooler if it’s shot well, but that’s a stretch. Once the bad guy is revealed, the screenplay is little more than horror-movie imagery and a pretty ridiculous resolution.

So take it from your blogging friend who’s prejudging the entire film based on an unverifiable script: it’s probably not a great movie.

(And as an intellectual-property business guy, I recognize that I’m undermining my own business model by reading a leaked script. But is it really so different than a critic’s sneak preview? Rationalizations are great fun.)