Lady in the Water (2006)

Originally Written

Sunday, January 14, 2007

I can assume it's safe to say that M. Night Shyamalan has lost his touch when it comes to making films that truly intrigue and thrill an audience. Maybe this has something to do with Shyamalan wanting to be an actor, rather than a director, as his usual cameo appearances seem to be continually growing into full on roles! Whatever the reason Lady In The Water ends up as a waterlogged film based an on bed time story which is sure to put most people to sleep.

Compared to Shyamalan's past masterpieces, Lady In The Water has no chance of staying afloat. Paul Giamatti plays Cleveland Heep the superintendent of a moderate size apartment complex full of some very unique individuals. There have been complaints of someone swimming in the pool at night, but Heep is unable to discover any evidence of who it might be, until one night. While making his nightly rounds about the complex Heep spots someone swimming in the pool and is quite surprised at what he discovers and as a result falls into the pool.

Heep is pulled out by a strange woman who he soon discovers is a Narf, a mystical creature talked about in an ancient bed time story. Through the help of some residents in the complex, Heep is able to piece together the puzzle of this mysterious woman and figure out who she is, why she is here and how to help her return home. Throughout the film secrets from Heep's past randomly begin to surface and he learns to face his own fears in an attempt to help save this stranger from hers.

I enjoy most of Shyamalan's films but Lady In The Water attempts too make a whole lot out of nothing. The story is boring and bland and the acting is usually cold and emotionless. It's a film that spends more time talking than doing anything, therefore the story rarely progresses forward and is never remotely interesting. Overall, I found Lady In The Water quite boring in comparison to Shyamalan's past outings and wasn't impressed by anything it had to offer, which wasn't much. It almost appears Shyamalan spent more time writing a character for himself than actually writing an entertaining and thrilling story, he's a horrible actor and needs to stick to what he does best behind the camera.

In the end, Lady In The Water can easily be passed by as quite predictable and forgettable. I was not impressed by Giamatti or Bryce Howard whose dry characters helped put me to sleep as much as the mediocre storyline did. Even the action sequences in the film were quite reserved compared to what we are used to seeing from Shyamalan, it's really a highly disappointing film.

3/10