In Lady in the Water, Shyamalan's descent into self-parody is complete.
Comment
07/21/06
Lady in the Water (2006)
24
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:204
Fresh:49
Rotten:155
Average Rating:4.2/10
Consensus: A far-fetched story with little suspense and unconvincing scenarios, Lady In The Water feels contrived, pretentious, and rather silly.
Theatrical Release:11-08-2006
Synopsis: M. Night Shyamalan (THE SIXTH SENSE, THE VILLAGE) continues his mission to revive the ancient art of storytelling--which he has diagnosed as a dying art--melding aspects of the fantastic with the... [More]
Starring: Paul Giamatti, Bryce Dallas Howard, Bob Balaban, Jeffrey Wright
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Reviews for Lady in the Water
101 - 120 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Viewers may see religious implications in the movie, with its messianic mermaid and chlorinated holy water, but it really isn't worthy of such deep analysis.
07/21/06
You win points for sticking with vision only if the vision adds up, but despite fine imagery by the Hong Kong ace Christopher Doyle, we get trite monsters and cheesy spooks.
07/21/06
With his work beginning to seem as insular as the communities he's imagining, Shyamalan really needs to try directing someone else's screenplay.
07/21/06
It is yet another of Shyamalan's attempts to wade into the deep end of the profundity pool, where not even chlorine can kill the brackish residue of his design.
07/21/06
Its strange, entrancing, mystical and sometimes frightening events occur in everyday surroundings and elevate the lives of deserving, everyday people.
07/21/06
The movie is a muddle, burdened with too many characters and a sorry lack of thrills, flair and coherence. Yet Shyamalan's talent is real.
07/21/06
None of this is fun to report from a critic's perspective. I'm a Shyamalan fan who greatly admires what he's trying to do, but Shyamalan's desperate desire to be the next Steven Spielberg has grown painful to witness.
07/21/06
Not to put too fine a point on it, this is one nutty movie.
07/21/06
The result is a soggy swamp of nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyahing, its only grace notes are Giamatti's fine, nuanced performance as Heep and Christopher Doyle's handsome cinematography.
07/21/06
It is a lovely, sincere movie with a nice message about believing in both otherworldly magic and the more mundane power of a community.
07/21/06
M. Night Shyamalan doesn't have an ego problem. He's just a humble screenwriter and director who makes himself a star of his own movie -- as a character who is a writer, whose words will save the world from despair and destruction.
07/21/06
Hey, wanting a movie to compute is not the same as resisting fairy-tale eloquence.
07/21/06
The surprise here is that he's created a story mythology for this fantasy/thriller that's so ludicrous and convoluted that it's almost laughable. At times it seems his cast members are making up the story as they go.
07/21/06
Lady is not likely to convert critics who believe Shyamalan is only a one-trick pony. Those willing to risk a dip in this pool, on the other hand, may be refreshed, if not reborn.
07/21/06
These days, movie fans have grown accustomed to being force-fed a film's reality, to having it hammered home from first loud frame to last. Lady in the Water offers more subtle submersion, a baptism of soulful quirks and daringly sweet imagination.
07/21/06
Who am I to knock the work of the man who, in his own film, casts himself as a writer whose ideas will inspire a future leader who will save the world -- an artist whose work will not be fully understood in his own time, but only many years later?
07/21/06
Top CriticThis isn't nitpicking. Every bit of the tale is as full of holes as a wool sweater at a moth convention, and Shyamalan telegraphs each potential surprise.
07/21/06
While Giamatti does yeoman's work in his latest Everyman role, the lady herself is a cipher with zero substance or appeal.
07/21/06
It is possible to wrestle yourself from the movie's hokey ambitions. There is a good chunk of Lady in the Water that is simply too well made and affectingly acted to dismiss as a mere exercise in arrogance.
07/21/06
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