I agree strongly with this. I'm pretty sure if it was just spelled out from the beginning that these were separate timelines, I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

The problem is that there isn't more women directors. Because of that problem, many men don't work with women directors. This article blames the men for that problem. Keep keeping on, I guess.

One tiny joke? It totally changes where the blame lies. You can try to justify it all you want, but it's transparent.

>the roll call of shame

Sure, but it's being presented as though these men are the symptom as opposed to this being a side effect.

Yeah, it's pretty obvious when you're looking for it - yet no one ever brings it up when talking about the movie.

I never said it wasn't played straight, or that there was a joke the audience should have been in on. I'm just saying that the overriding theme of the movie was about communication, and it's something that no one mentions when bringing up the movie.

How does that make it dumber? It actually gives a method to the madness.

The Happening isn't about chemicals, or plants, or the environment, or anything like that. It's about communication. Throughout the film, communication is stunted or non existent. Hiding cell phones, cell phones breaking up, the "bad acting", Mark and Zooey not being able to truly communicate. It's more overt when…