Movie Review: Lady In The Water (2006)

Lady in the Water is a 2006 film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The movie revolves around a landlord played by Paul Giamatti who discovers a mermaid - like sea nymph named Storm (Bryce Dallas Howard) living in the swimming pool of the apartments he manages. This movie off the bat is slightly better than Shyamalan's previous effort (The Village) and that satisfied me. There are some cons with this movie and there are some pros. However upon its initial release, Lady in the Water was pretty much trashed on by film critics. One of the reasons for that backlash is Shyamalan himself making an appearance on screen (in a much larger role than any of his previous movies). The movie also injects a lot of fantasy elements which are not fully developed and aren't fully explained. Then there are some pros, which I will talk about first. First off, this movie is fun and entertaining. I had a good time with Lady in the Water and it really satisfied me because the pacing is back to normal and it's just good fun. The cons with this movie are pretty much everything that I didn't mention (or are what causes some of the flick to be good). No one in this movie (except Shyamalan himself) gives a really good performance. Aside from a surprisingly good and focused performance from M. Night Shyamalan, the acting is pretty dull. The characters aren't boring people, but I don't exactly buy all these performances. The acting is so average and funny that it actually makes the movie good. This is an example of a film that is so unbelievable and believes it is so much bigger than it is in reality, that it's good. My next and even bigger issue which is the fantasy world. This story puts a lot of fantastical and magical creatures into the plot. I didn't understand or invest in any of that. This movie throws stuff in your face that I don't think most people would care about. The issue with Shyamalan's choice to utilize the fantasy genre would be interesting had he actually tried to make you care. The movie is good though, even though it does have flaws with it. There are effective moments of humor that are typically for Night's filmography. I would definitely reccommend this movie if you weren't a fan of The Village and have nothing to do on a good Friday night. Overall, Lady in the Water is far from flawless, but it is an entertaining and fun movie with enough good to make me sit back and enjoy this flick. Two stars.