‘The Happening’: Not happening with the critics

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It’s still a tad early to tell whether ‘The Happening’ will simply be a disappointment or an outright flop, but the verdict from the critics is in already: It’s a stinker. What’s more, the film’s lousy reviews--it got a 20 from Rotten Tomatoes, a 37 from Metacritic--continues something of an unenviable streak for 20th Century Fox, the studio that makes more bad movies than anyone else in the business.

Putting aside ‘Horton Hears a Who,’ which got excellent notices when it hit the theaters in March, Fox has released 15 movies since ‘The Simpsons Movie’ came out last July. And guess how many of those films got a 50 or better (considered the minimum for an average score at Rotten Tomatoes)?

Zero.

We’ll go into the whys and hows of Fox’s abysmal critical track record some other time. But here’s our quiz of the day: Of those movies, which one got the lowest score at Rotten Tomatoes? I won’t bore you by listing all 15, but here’s a few to choose from:

‘Jumper.’

‘Hitman.’

‘Meet the Spartans.’

‘Deception.’

‘Shutter.’

‘The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising.’

Not so easy to pick one of that bunch, huh? Just click on our lovely post continuation button for the answer:

The worst reviews went to ... ‘Meet the Spartans,’ which got a 2 from Rotten Tomatoes and a 9 from Metacritic, which puts it near the all-time record for both review compilation services. Next up from Fox: ‘Meet Dave,’ which stars Eddie Murphy as the captain of an alien spaceship that arrives in New York City, taking the form of--ahem--Eddie Murphy, who somehow gets a crush on an Earthwoman, thus endangering the ship’s mission to Earth.

Sounds like the streak could remain unbroken, doesn’t it?

Photo by Patrick Goldstein / Los Angeles Times