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Lady
in the Water (2006)   
Review
It's
difficult to determine whether M. Night Shyamalan's films have become
increasingly more ambitious or increasingly less so. With Lady in the
Water, you could arguably make a case for both. However, it's
almost impossible to believe that Shyamalan, while making this film,
sincerely thought he would be able to turn it into a good one.
The
only noticeably useful aspect of Lady in the Water is some
scattered irony and sarcasm from time to time. But despite this, the
film generally takes itself and the narrative far too seriously. That
said, it was always going to be hard not to take this narrative too
seriously, seeing as it has the subtlety and thematic depth of a
story told by a 4-year-old. The Paul Giamatti character is the only
interesting one among a lazy lineup, and the massively talented actor
touches upon some elements of value, but in the end, what's interesting about
Cleveland Heep is not what Shyamalan uses him for.
Instead,
Lady in the Water gets itself entangled in its irrelevant story,
drenched in
an embarrassingly overplotted, stunted offspring of an already clichéd
fairytale. The acting ranges from thoroughly unimpressive to downright
horrible (please do not look directly at Cindy Cheung while she speaks), and James Newton
Howard reaches a career-low in counter-productivity with his bloated
score. Shyamalan has now hit rock bottom. The good thing is that it can only
go upwards from here.
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