Movie Review: Lady in the Water
Stars (out of 10): 9
One Word Summary: Fantastic

        'Lady in the Water” is a children's fairy tale that, as writer/director M. Night Shyamalan says, has gotten progressively scarier. Cleveland Heep is the superintendent of The Cove, a seemingly regular apartment building with two rules: no smoking, and no swimming after seven. Heep hears a splash in the pool late at night, and when he goes searching for the source, he finds Story, a water nymph trying to make her way from our world back to hers. She needs Cleveland's help. He soon realizes that she's straight out of a fairy tale and the only way to save her is to figure out what role he and his tenants play in this same tale.

        Since the 1999 release of 'The Sixth Sense,” no director has spent more time on the shoulders of adoring critics than M. Night Shyamalan—and no hero of the industry has seen his stock fall so quickly. Critics panned 'The Village” (not this one, but most of them), and, so far, 'Lady in the Water” has gotten worse reviews than 'Phat Girlz.” According to critics, Shyamalan has gone from genius to egomaniac, but Shyamalan has a very clear response to those critics. In 'Lady in the Water,” Bob Babalan plays a no-it-all movie critic who, once it's proven doesn't know it all, meets an untimely end.

        Good one Mr. Shyamalan.

        The once acclaimed director's only show of ego is in casting himself in a major role—apparently he likes to see himself on screen like Hitchcock—the rest is (still) pure creative genius. Just a different kind.

        In 'Lady in the Water,” Shyamalan has fused fairy tale, pop culture, and a war response. The film is magical, dramatic, and funny all at the same time. It may not be his best movie yet, but it is most certainly his most complete.

        If 'The Sixth Sense” hadn't ended with a shocker, it wouldn't be 'great”—same for 'Unbreakable,” 'Signs,” and 'The Village.” 'Lady in the Water” doesn't need a surprise. The entire story is proof of Shyamalan's seemingly bottomless supply of creativity and originality. Balaban's character at one-point muses that nothing in Hollywood is new anymore, but this movie is proof that there is.

        My only wish is that, unlike in 'Signs” and 'The Village,” Shyamalan hadn't shown the 'monster.” It takes the mystery away from their existence in exchange for cheap thrills and little else. For some reason though Shyamalan and Warner Bros. like to think of his movies as horror films when they're anything but.

        Regardless, 'Lady in the Water” is as well acted as it is written. Paul Giamatti's performance is on the nose. His stumbling, stuttering Cleveland Heep is the perfect pair to Bryce Dallas Howard's beautiful Story, and the film's final line, if critics paid any attention, should go down as one of the great movie quotes ever spoken.

The Bottom Line is that Shyamalan has not just created a new story in 'Lady in the Water,” he's created an entire mythology. Narfs, blue worlds, scrunts, guardians, guilds and healers are all part of an entirely new vernacular. His world is magical, dark, and thrilling. If critics won't stand united to praise this film, then I'll just have to stand alone. See it and enjoy.