Shyamalan might've been onto something if Lady in the Water were, say, a satire of Scientology; instead, it's a mission for a bedtime story, a badly told fairy tale.
Comment
07/20/06
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
141 - 160 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Not bad, full of odd holes and plot troubles, but rich with beautiful ideas (and dark, shimmery cinematography by the great Christopher Doyle).
07/20/06
If Shyamalan wants to slap around film critics, hey, fine by me; but to sacrifice your entire film to do so reeks of a director who could stand to hear a little more "no" in his life.
07/20/06
I just want to punch this movie right in the face.
07/20/06
Narf, scrunt and tartutic may sound silly, but I was interested in the story. If J.K. Rowling can make up muggle, M. Night can have those three. It's a far more involving than the manufactured tales of Da Vinci scholars.
07/20/06
The one prescient thing associated with the soothsaying around his self-appointed savior character is that if he continues along the path he's on now, someone is going to take him out and it won't just be a film critic.
07/20/06
A tedious, astonishingly irritating march through scene after scene of quasi-Jungian horse flop.
07/20/06
Murky like the water in the pool, or like Christopher Doyle's cinematography.
07/20/06
It's an ambitious mess at best, and the invented mythology is delivered to the viewer with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
07/20/06
Lady in the Water challenges us to believe in the power of myth. But the big challenge here is surviving the tedium of Shyamalan's meandering inventiveness. What's supposed to be fanciful storytelling is really just audience punishment.
07/20/06
Though the result is too idiosyncratic to be regarded as just one more summer-movie whiff, those who see it may feel a need to act like a pool lifeguard and blow the whistle on Shyamalan.
07/20/06
Mysterious and sweet. It's scary and it's funny, and it's deeply moving, too. That makes Water a rare exception in terms of cinematic hybrids, but it also represents Shyamalan's best effort since 2000's Unbreakable.
07/20/06
Pretentious poppycock! Given the expectations of M. Night Shyamalan, it's this summer's most surprising disappointment.
07/20/06
It's hard to think of a deadlier shotgun marriage than Jacques Tourneur's poetry of absence and Spielbergian uplift, but Shyamalan has patented the combo, adding pretentious camera movements that are peculiarly his own -- even the jokes are pretty solemn.
07/20/06
For weeks the Web has been rich with rumors that Lady in the Water is a dog. The noble truth is that M. Night Shyamalan's new thriller isn't half bad. The awful truth is that it's not really half good, either.
07/20/06
There's something exhilarating yet corny about watching all the pieces snap into place, even if you saw the pattern a mile away. It feels like you had to figure out some great mystery, even if M. Night did all the work for you.
07/20/06
Lady in the Water marks M. Night Shyamalan's official leap off the deep end. Not everyone agrees on Shyamalan's talent as a filmmaker, but few, up till now, have questioned his sanity.
07/20/06
Unless I've totally miscalculated the audience appeal of this stinker, the executives he pummeled in that book are going to look more like astute visionaries than back-stabbing traitors, and should be wearing very big smiles come Monday morning.
07/20/06
A spiritual story that challenges us to deeply listen and to let its mysteries work on our hearts and souls until we discover what part is ours to play.
07/20/06
This creative dream-like summer pic is sure to entertain sci-fi junkies, but will become a big turnoff for many audiences expecting a modern thriller/horror flick with a Shyamalan twist.
07/20/06
Latest News for Lady in the Water
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February 27, 2007:
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January 23, 2007:
Razzie Nominations Announced!
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