Lady in the Water

  • 2006


MOVIE IS interesting ambitious exhilarating fascinatingly uncanny
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23 %
25 % Rotten
$ 72 Million
See Where to Watch Lady in the Water
Positive Reviews 49
Negative reviews 66
Average Rating 2.4/5
interesting ambitious exhilarating fascinatingly uncanny

  • All
  • Positive
  • Negative
2.0
Howards strangely lifeless mystical travails, meanwhile, mostly inspires indifferent shrugs. Av Club
3.0
At best, Shyamalans genius for melding the fantastic with the mundane rivals that of Steven Spielberg or Stephen King, but that gift fails him here. Av Club
2.0
type Movie Current Status In Season mpaa PG 13 runtime 110 minutes Wide Release Date 07/21/06 performer Paul Giamatti, Bryce Dallas Howard, Freddy Rod .. EW
1.9
This is the setting for Shyamalans soggy bedtime story.A pre credits animated stick figure prologue sets up the films fairy tale foundation, and simul .. Rogerebert
2.0
What was thinking This isnt just duff, its career threatening catastrophic. Time Out
3.8
A gaping psychic wound, a blood spattered, pulsating tumor ripped violently from both its creators head and, more fascinatingly, his heart, then plant ..
5.0
Should commercial consideration always be the sine qua non, the lodestar of American filmmaking
1.5
It doesnt help that thefilm isnt marketing its greatest strength Paul Giamattis quietlyauthoritative, gently humane and naturalist performance as Clev .. Screen Daily
2.0
Its one of several outlandishly fine performances in a film top loaded with honest to goodness acting, a prize in genre filmmaking thats roughly as ra ..
4.0
Ignore the critics on this movie. Yeah, I am one. Which means Im telling you to ignore me, too. E Film Critic
2.0
Somebody might want to mention to Shyamalan that taking potshots at critics in films rarely works. Remember Roland Emmerichs lame attack on Siskel and .. E Film Critic
1.9
The one prescient thing associated with the soothsaying around his self appointed savior character is that if he continues along the path hes on now, .. E Film Critic
2.5
Whats especially peculiar is that the movie barely delivers on the promises it makes in its introduction. San Francisco Chronicle
3.0
Giamattis grounded charm just about gets you past those silly fairy tale names.
3.5
But if you can get over your grown up complex and lose yourself in the story, you just might find an enchanting blend of ancient and modern storytelli .. Cinema Blend
4.0
Thats easy to do since Shyamalan has created characters who are very much like us. Spirituality And Practice
3.0
You wont see anything else like it this summer, and youll be really glad about that. One Guys Opinion
2.0
His shtick is to slap together a horror film with a twisty gimmick ending that is uplifting. Sover
1.9
Maybe all the bad lines and funny words are supposed to be funny (in a campy way). ReelViews
3.1
Critics often forget the sheer visual, visceral skill that Shyamalan still possesses. Combust Ible Celluloid
1.9
What should be a wondrous excursion into Shyamalans version of a modern fairy tale is undermined by the writer/directors bitter tone. Mark Reviews Movies
2.5
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 lifegua .. Usa Today
3.8
Though Signs will never claim to make Speed look like a slow ride to Grandmas house, it moves at exactly the right speed (no pun intended) that the ma .. Reel Film Reviews
3.0
It is very inward looking.It is about finding ones purpose in life. Lariat
3.0
A pointless, charming little story is fine if it only lasts 10 minutes and is intended to amuse drowsy children. Eric Ds Nider
3.0
Fortunately, the cast is good enough to carry us through the uneven tale. Shadows On The Wall
2.0
Frankly, youll marvel at his ability to keep a straight face as he delivers Shyamalans pretentious and painfully inept dialogue.Bryce Dallas Howard is .. View London
2.0
But I suspect audiences will see Shyamalans portentous doodle for what it is the height of arrogance and a bad night out at the movies. Cs Monitor
2.5
And Christopher Doyles cinematography is lush and lovely.But this is no future cult gem. Film Journal International ..
2.5
The surprise here is that hes created a story mythology for this fantasy/thriller thats so ludicrous and convoluted that its almost laughable. Deseret News (Salt Lake Ci ..
1.9
Silly and sappy ... Shyamalan continues on his steady descent in quality. Internet Reviews
3.1
Youre tempted to believe in Shyamalans belief in storytelling, even if you dont believe in Shyamalan himself. Boston
4.0
The mere act of creating something is indulging yourself, your ideas, your beliefs, your fantasies. Mountain X
1.5
It is, perhaps, too self consciously about how a story is made real instead of just actually making a story real.
2.0
0) $i = mysql fetch object($result); $result2 = mysql query(SELECT * FROM wp posts WHERE ID=.$i >wp post id., $DB); $rows2 = mysql num rows($result .. Emanuellevy
1.5
Shyamalan mightve been onto something if Lady in the Water were, say, a satire of Scientology; instead, its a mission for a bedtime story, a badly tol .. Reel Talk Reviews
1.5
Sicario: Day of the Soldado Throughout Sicario: Day of the Soldado, characters talk about things needing to be clean, which pretty much means that a l .. Q Network
2.5
While the films performances are intriguing and the direction tight, Shyamalans fairytale ends up being more interesting than the actual film. Cinema Crazed
3.5
Shyamalan is no longer asking anyones permission to be weird, and theres something exhilarating in that. Slate
2.0
This could have made a decent movie but the mythology comes so thick and fast that it mixes to a slurry as you watch. Eye For Film
1.0
The film bears a conceit that implies a certain knowledge privy only to the actors and the filmmaker.
1.5
If Shyamalan is going to use his kids as a focus group for future projects, maybe he should start making movies for Nickelodeon already and stop wasti .. Flim Threet
2.0
Look deeper and youll see the story of filmmaker M Night Shyamalan drowning in a bog of his own creative juices. Bbc
0.0
What the hell do I know Im a lowly scrunt bait critic deigning to question the very Vessel of Story. Mr Brown Movies
2.5
The finale is flat footed, underwhelming, bewilderingly simplistic, and narratively strained, its cobbled together parts never forming a coherent or e .. The Movie Boy
3.5
This is the most flawed part of Shyamalans script, since theres little chance that all of the characters would be so foolish to believe everything Cle .. Bullz-Eye
1.0
If the Sex Pistols once perpetrated the great rock n roll swindle, its quite possible that with his new movie M. Night Shyamalan has perpetrated the g .. Las Vegas Weekly
2.0
The Curse of La Llorona cast members Raymond Cruz, Patricia Velasquez and Linda Cardellini, along with director Michael Chaves, share some personal La .. Calendar Live
3.1
The fantastical Lady in the Water, Shyamalans most wildly imaginative yet obscure work to date, will probably disappoint those looking for that certai .. Hollywood
2.0
But, unless Ive totally miscalculated the audience appeal of this stinker, the executives he pummeled in that book are going to look more like astute .. Seattle Pi
3.1
Reservations aside, and while Im sure my sentiments wont land me anywhere close to the majority of critical opinion, this is one picture where Im almo .. Movie Freak
4.0
Those who truly want to believe that fantasy and magic exist in our world are given a wonderful story that is far more satisfying in terms of characte ..
0.0
Look, the real wonder of WW84 is that this maybe isnt the worst thing about it. Film Freak Central
2.0
While Giamatti does yeomans work in his latest Everyman role, the lady herself is a cipher with zero substance or appeal. Boxoffice Magazine
3.0
Theres 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 .. E Online
1.5
Lady in the Water is unmistakably a setback, as well as a warning to potential detractors. You are, it seems, either with M. Night Shyamalan or agains .. La Weekly
1.0
There are so many things wrong with Lady that there just isnt enough space to go into them here. Mirror
3.0
The kindest thing I can say about it is that it started out with moody and suggestive imagination. Varia Gate
1.9
The only good thing I can say about it is that like all of Nights films, it is visually impressive. Three Movie Buffs
3.0
Howard is good if unremarkable in the Story role and while some of the supporting characters seem a little too close to cut outs, this film has a char .. Raidió Teilifís Éireann
4.5
Shyamalan proves once again to be a filmmaker who knows how to take advantage of some highly ridiculous scenarios and situations.
3.1
Fairy tales work best wheneither on screen or pagethey suck you into their world and make you a part of the fantasy.There, you see the wonders unfold. Christianity Today
3.8
It has a beautiful warm heart.Im increasingly appreciating that in films, heck if I dont hope we all are. Ross Anthony
1.0
. . .a rambling mess that takes 110 minutes and an obscene amount of money all to let Shyamalan live out a revenge fantasy and to obsess over Howards .. Killer Movie Reviews
2.5
Mr. Shyamalan is a talented filmmaker with a gift for atmosphere, but he struggles to tell an interesting story that doesnt feel (a) pretentious or (b .. Big Picture Big Sound
1.9
To make it hipper and more appealing to modern audiences, he adds plenty of humor, which is mostly funny and entertaining. but it starts to distract f .. Waffle Movies
3.0
Lady in the Water has some interesting moments, but fails because the story is so uninspiring. It simply does not achieve the greatness that it thinks .. Movie Web
5.0
The first time I watched the film, I was mostly trying to follow the wonderfully silly and intricate plot.Whereas on outing #2, I was able to fully ta .. Montreal Film Journal
3.0
Pepe and Fulton employ a faux documentary style (but not played for laughs), which gives the film its uncanny sense of verisimilitude but also limits .. News Week
1.9
I applaud Giamatti, the movies welcome humor, its abundant spirituality and old school attention to detail. Chron
5.0
In 1925, leading American entertainers were invited by Vanity Fair to write epitaphs for their graves.WC Fields, who spent his life mocking his native .. Film Guardian
1.0
Never has the evidence been so clear that a once promising director has gone completely insane, yet seldom has said proof been so all fired dull. Or Lando Weekly
3.0
But Shyamalan wants you to be surprised about what that purpose is. Decent Films
2.5
Lady in the Water never manages that equilibrium: the dumb bits simply outweigh the good ones.WORTH IT Scifi Movie Page
1.0
But Francois Ozons French language tone poem, for lack of a better term to describe the straight line drama, isnt about fighting.Its about a gay man c .. Wsj
2.0
For weeks the Web has been rich with rumors that Lady in the Water is a dog. The noble truth is that M. Night Shyamalans new thriller isnt half bad. T .. Guide Live
1.5
Turns out those Disney executives who refused to make M. Night Shyamalans latest film, Lady In The Water, knew exactly what they were doing. Jam! Movies
2.0
Instead it wallows in a nonsensical would be fairy tale that serves no purpose beyond its creators narcissistic grandiosity. Flip Side Archive
3.0
One has it billed as a suspense film, one as a drama, and one as a horror flick. From The Balcony
2.0
Once the filmmaker spells everything out for us in the first fifteen or twenty minutes, the rest of the plot simply unfolds in a jumbled series of inc .. Movie Metropolis
1.9
Blinded by his own aura, the moviemaker has crafted a bizarre fairy tale that is neither adult horror movie nor childish fantasy. Denver Post
1.0
Hold your breath no more, folks, for this film lacks even one moment of intrigue. Review Express
1.3
The story is exceedingly dull; to become involved in it would require not just a suspension of disbelief, but a suspension of mental faculties altoget .. M Tv
2.0
Drowsy kids maybe arent that interested in internal consistency, but movie going audiences have come to expect it. Future Movies
3.5
not without its magical moments, but you really have to want them. Filmcritic.com
1.5
Based on a bedtime story the filmmaker told his young daughters, Water will certainly put many moviegoers to sleep. ...an endurance test rather than a .. James Sanford on Film
0.6
Have you ever been approached by someone who was really drunk, and they tell you some rambling, incoherent story Well, thats what watching this movie .. Aisle Seat
3.5
I enjoyed every moment, from the pictographs that set up the ancient legend to the emotional climax. TheMovieChicks.com
2.0
Shyamalan valiantly struggles to infuse his soggy sagas final note of communal altruism with some transcendent enchantment.But with the directors own .. Nicks Chager
3.0
Its about the power of storytelling and fantasy.That inspires feelings of joy. Can Mag
1.5
Maybe if M. Night had cast Virginia Madsen as the Lady and filled the pool with a crisp Chardonnay, Paul Giamatti wouldnt have been so thoroughly beac .. IGN Movies
2.0
These days, movie fans have grown accustomed to being force fed a films reality, to having it hammered home from first loud frame to last. Lady in the .. Detroit News
3.0
A bedtime story that succeeds in putting its audience into dreamland well before the tale is finished. Compuserve
0.5
Shyamalan will have to settle for another curmudgeonly critic giving him another negative review. Review Journal
1.0
The tone is strenuously grave, yet often Lady in the Water carries hints of private jokes (Giamatti miming childlike curiosity on a couch, ominous law .. Cine Passion
2.0
Shyamalan uses so much clunky exposition that there is hardly any forward moving action. Film Critic 1963 Typepad
3.0
Its hardly even a thriller.M. Night has crafted a comic fairy tale for a family audience. Juicy Cerebellum
3.8
A return to storytelling in the first order, Lady in the Water is highly recommended. Crazed Fan Boy
2.0
... Shyamalan tries here to take a storytellers approach to telling what should be a visual tale, thus violating one of the chief tenets of filmmaking .. Cinematical
2.0
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 hea .. Film Jerk
3.0
His movie is moribund as entertainment.It ascribes such moral political wisdom to itself and wastes so much time and so many bland red herrings on its .. Nicks Flick Picks
3.5
If the movie succeeds at nothing more than putting the filmmaker back on a creative path, then it has more than served its purpose. Metro Weekly
1.5
Lady in the Water is not a good movie not by some mythical Shyamalan standards, but by even the most basic standards of proficiency. Film Force Ign
3.5
The 19 year old shot by a Louisiana state trooper during a traffic stop in Baton Rouge three weeks ago was shot in the back and shrapnel near his spin .. 2 The Advocate
1.9
Any magic lurking in this fairy tale is smothered by Shyamalans need to play everything straight. Chicago Tribune
2.0
While I love where Nights head and heart are at, I think he tried to communicate them in a way that was clumsy, cumbersome, lacking in suspense and me .. Brandon Fibbs
1.5
Its thin stuff, stretched out to nearly two hours by Shyamalans faith in his own abilities, but not much else. Gost Dog
2.8
Its an ambitious mess at best, and the invented mythology is delivered to the viewer with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Supercala.com
2.6
The film is a mess, a ramshackle affair. Its silliness cannot sustain itself. Apollo Guide
3.8
Maybe the theme is that you should try to score some of that stuff Shyamalan must be smoking. Arizona Daily Star
3.0
Shyamalans skill as a director of action (and inaction) finds a really good match in ace cinematographer Christopher Doyles moody camera fu. Deep Focus
1.0
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1.3
When film historians discuss what happens when a filmmaker of limited talent has a huge success and then goes out of control, this is the movie that w ..
1.5
... to put it bluntly, badly paced and completely trivial, not to mention utterly juvenile.
2.5
None of this is fun to report from a critics perspective. Im a Shyamalan fan who greatly admires what hes trying to do, but Shyamalans desperate desir .. Seattle Times
3.1
A watery, ladylike, and extremely tall tale indeed, but one well within the reach of its fine cast (which this time includes its director). Imdb
0.5
The saddest thing about Lady in the Water is that its more than just a bad movie. Its a career destroying act of vanity by its director.
4.5
Its strange, entrancing, mystical and sometimes frightening events occur in everyday surroundings and elevate the lives of deserving, everyday people. Democratand Chronicle
1.9
The result is a soggy swamp of nyah nyah nyah nyah nyahing, its only grace notes are Giamattis fine, nuanced performance as Heep and Christopher Doyle .. Online Tv Guide
2.6
However, in attempting to appeal to this audience, Shyamalan has strained the infantile fantasy to the breaking point.I cannot imagine anyone over the .. Djardine Blogspot
2.5
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/ ..
4.5
Lady in the Water exposes Hollywoods master of suspense as a wet noodle. Cbc
4.5
Its hard to think of a deadlier shotgun marriage than Jacques Tourneurs poetry of absence and Spielbergian uplift, but Shyamalan has patented the comb .. Chicago Reader
2.5
Still, the movie is so skillfully presented, well acted and just plain weird that it should not be so easily dismissed. Lj World
1.5
This movie is not as bad as its being made out to be. But it isnt really good either.
2.5
All throughout its running time, Lady in the Water tends to make up its rules as it goes along...out of a sheer need for plotting or cleverness.
2.0
M. Nights self absorption is approaching the level of irritation here it has all the subtlety of a brick applied to the head. Edge Newyork
1.5
What is most annoying about Lady is that no one ever considers the possibility that nothing magical is actually occurring.The film starts out silly an .. Beyond Hollywood
3.5
A genre defying, form snubbing plunge into an overly sentimental, proudly nonsensical world.



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