I first heard about this movie when I saw a interview of the main stars on The Hour with George Stroumbolopolous.  And I heard them talking about the Rush angle to this movie. That was more than enough to peak my interest in this movie. Plus I really like the two lead actors – Paul Rudd and Jason Segel. Rashida Jones, daughter of Quincy Jones, also stars as Rudd’s fiance and Jamie Pressely, Jane Curtin & Jon Favereau also lend a supporting hand in this movie.

Peter Klaven (Rudd) just got engaged to his girlfriend of 8 months, Zooey Rice but he is embarrassed by the fact that he has a lack of male friends, especially compared with the close intimate relationships that Zooey has with her group of female friends. Overhearing her friends discussing this oddity, Peter goes on a series of “man dates” with men hoping to get a real friend in time for his wedding. However, he always seems to be ending up in awful situations. Feeling rejected, Peter is about to give up, when during an open house at Lou Ferrigno’s mansion, he meets Sydney Fife (Jason Segel) . The two hit it off very well, despite having different personalities. Later, Peter calls Sydney, and they go out for drinks.

Pretty soon they are spending a lot of time together, including jamming on bass & guitar in Sydney’s garage turned ‘man cave’. They also bond over a mutual love for the rock band Rush – the two of them singing Tom Sawyer in the garage is a highlight of the film! Peter then asks Sydney to be his best man at his wedding and invites him to a dinner with family & friends – where Sydney makes a totally inappropriate toast! Things get a little testy when Sydney borrows $8000 from Peter and puts billboards all over Los Angeles to advertise Peter’s real estate skills. And then Sydney fights with Ferrigno which seems to jeopardize the sale. They break off their friendship for a while.

However, it seems that Sydney’s silly billboards have worked in getting more business for Peter including Ferrigno, who is impressed with the sales technique. Zooey who has second thoughts about their friendship, relents when she sees that Peter is upset on the day of their wedding and she invites Sydney to come. The two friends are reunited and the wedding takes place.

Total dude movie; watch it and you’ll love it. 8 outta 10!

I had kinda given up hope on Manoj Shyamalan’s movies getting the same kinda acclaim as Sixth Sense and Signs did. I liked The Village a lot more than most people did and have yet to watch Lady In The Water & Unbreakable. This movie is similar to the kind of movie that you would expect Shyamalan to make. Although I am surprised by the casting – Zooey Deschanel is not the kind of actress I would have expected in this role and neither was John Leguizamo in his small supporting role. I don’t like Mark Wahlberg but I guess he did ok in this role.

The Happening is about an unexplainable natural disaster that occurs on the East Coast of the US. It starts off in Central Park, New York when people suddenly start to commit suicide in the most accessible manner possible for no apparent reason. Stabbing themselves in the neck by a pen, walking off construction sites, policemen shooting themselves with their own guns etc.

Initially believed to be a bioterrorist attack using an airborne neurotoxin, the epidemic quickly spreads across the northeastern United States, slowly moving from large population centers to smaller and smaller areas. The disease is spread through the air and the onset is depicted by the wind picking up. Wahlberg plays Elliot, a high school teacher, who tries to escape the epidemic with his wife Alma (Deschanel), his friend Jullian (Luguizamo) and Jullian’s young daughter Jess. Jullian dies when he goes back to search for his wife and is infected along with others that he is traveling with. Elliot & Alma take Jess with them as they try to make their way to smaller and more open areas with less people as they get the idea that this infections occurs where there are more people. They are joined by a group of people who soon split into smaller groups as the wind picks up and they start to get infected.

Towards the end, Elliot is left with just Alma & Jess and they take refuge in an old isolated farm house occupied by a paranoid oddball woman, who is unaware of the disaster as she keeps to herself and has shunned technology and interaction with other humans. Soon, however she too is infected and she kills herself by banging her head onto the windows of her house. Elliot, Jess & Alma hide out in different parts of her house until they feel that death is inevitable and they come out to embrace in the field. The wind picks up and the trio wait for the onset of the epidemic…but nothing happens!

As predicted by scientists in the beginning the outbreak abates as quickly as it has started lasting only a couple of days. 3 months later things are normal for Alma & Elliot who have adopted Jess and are also expecting their first child. The Northeast is almost back to normal, save for the deaths and some destruction of property. However, a scientist is shown talking on  tv that this was probably just the signs of a bigger wave of the epidemic, saying that humans have been a threat to the planet and nature is fighting back. We are then shown the same epidemic strike in France as the movie ends.

7 outta 10 for me. I like it but they could have done better!