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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 probably make an argument for both. However, it is
almost impossible to believe that Shyamalan while making this film
sincerely thought he would be able to turn into a good one.
The
only noticeable useful aspect of Lady in the Water is some
scattered irony and sarcasms from time to time. But despite this, the
film generally takes itself and the narrative way too seriously. With
that said, it was going to be hard not to take this narrative too
seriously, seeing as it has the subtleness and thematic interest 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 character actor
grazes upon some elements of value, but in the end, what's interesting about
his Cleveland Heep is not what Shyamalan uses him for.
Instead,
Lady in the Water gets itself entangled in its irrelevant story, soaked 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-high of counter-productiveness with his bloated
score. Shyamalan has now reached the bottom. The good thing is that it can
be only upwards from here.
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