‎Lady in the Water (2006) directed by M. Night Shyamalan • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Lady in the Water

2006 Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

Time is running out for a happy ending.

Apartment building superintendent Cleveland Heep rescues what he thinks is a young woman from the pool he maintains. When he discovers that she is actually a character from a bedtime story who is trying to make the journey back to her home, he works with his tenants to protect his new friend from the creatures that are determined to keep her in our world.

Paul Giamatti Jeffrey Wright Bob Balaban Sarita Choudhury Cindy Cheung M. Night Shyamalan Freddy Rodríguez Bill Irwin Mary Beth Hurt Noah Gray-Cabey Joseph D. Reitman Jared Harris Grant Monohon John Boyd Bryce Dallas Howard

110 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Peaceful Stoner ★ 35

Film #4 of Gustav's M.National Shyamalan-a-thon

I thought about it, but honestly could not arrive at an answer. I do not know what was going through M.Night’s mind when he came up with this idea. Even more baffling is what gave him the impression that this would work and be accepted. The concept is total bollocks. The juxtaposition of fairy tale elements along with reality simply does not work here, as all the characters are mere devices, cardboard-like, uninteresting, ill-conceived, and dreadfully executed. They come off looking utterly dim-witted as they are shown to comfortably believe in such fatuous happenings.

Part of my frustration stems from the fact that the film did not even deliver on the promise of an…
Review by matt lynch ★★★

This corpse has been picked over plenty, and while I'll stipulate that it's a bit undercooked and pretty silly, on a rewatch I think it's one of those things you just have to deliberately slide into, which makes sense given that it's all of a piece with SIGNS and THE VILLAGE in its depiction of an insular community or group united by belief. You can choose to read Bob Balaban's character as a snipe at all critics, or you can take it as a representation of blanket, unfeeling skepticism. Up to you. Anyway, Shyamalan may exhibit all manner of ill-advised creative hubris but that doesn't mask his exceptional capabilities as a visual filmmaker. It's hard to make an ugly movie…
Review by Josiah Morgan ★★★★★ 1

I often talk about how much I want an adaptation of Stephen King's Lisey's Story but Lady In The Water is pretty much the... exact vibe for me. Super important that almost every shot before the Lady is introduced is obstructed - there is something missing from the lives of everybody in this, the decreasing length of Shyamalan's shots slowly finding the core of what makes these people tick - but this isn't a film about people; it's about conflict (involving people). If the Water is purity/the capacity to imagine & believe/where all myth comes from then the Land - the location of our narrative - is a blight on the freedom of half-lit 'truer' perception. Just look at how this…
Review by Evan ½ 16

Film #6 of Gustav's M. National Shyamalan-a-thon

Lady in the Water proves that M. Night Shyamalan is on drugs. This movie is flat out stupid. It seriously didn't make an ounce of sense. There was nothing interesting going on at all; it was a total bore-fest that nearly put me to sleep. There is no plot and the film's setting is an apartment complex swimming pool. This is the dumbest "fairytale" ever. I said WTF about 7 times during this movie. Lady in the Water is actually worse than The Last Airbender, believe it or not. Also why does Shyamalan put himself in all of his movies!? He is a horrendous actor. I guess his arrogance level is just through the roof.
Review by Naughty ★★★

There is so much about this modern day fairy tale that I loved! It even managed to squeeze a couple tears out of me! So why does it feel like a rough draft! Perhaps the editor got scissor happy and left one too many film clips on the cutting room floor!

The highlight of the film in my eyes was Paul Giamatti he worked his arse off and moved me to tears with his gut wrenching performance!

Final Word: I can't recommend a film that feels like a first draft no matter how much potential I saw in it!
Review by Josiah Morgan ★★★★★ 3

The first film made after Shyamalan was really, truly widely rejected, with one clear focus: a world of characters who cannot accept pure storytelling. His pain is at the center of this solar system.

Recent reviews

Review by David M ★★½

I don't hate this (like I'm supposed to). Skewed more toward the sensibilities of Tim Burton and without the megalomaniacal self-casting stunt, this would just be super weird and fun. It's the pomp and circumstance that ruins it.
Review by russman ★½

Off the deep end
Review by BenIsNotReal ★★★★★ 1

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Experiencing this was borderline religious.

In my girlfriends room without A/C, basically drenched in sweat, but completely unable to even flinch away from what I was seeing. Lady In The Water might be the messiest Shyamalan I've seen thus far, but it's messy in the most beautiful, optimistic, humanistic way you can possibly imagine.

M. Night has so many ideas and possibilities and exhortations that he's trying to share here, and they all blend together into this glorious fable of human triumph and hope; it's difficult to even begin to unravel.

Most important for me was the almost sarcastic look at criticism. The idea of a film critic character so wrapped up in his own pre-conceived ideologies and formulas, that…
Review by amandalucillex ★★★★½

a fairytale bedtime story come to life.

i enjoyed this movie very much. paul giamatti is wonderful, as is bryce dallas howard. i love the multitude of characters in the apartments and how they each have their own quirky things. the scrunt was very cool & i think it was very well done. i like the shot in with it in the laundry room a lot.

i went into this with lower expectations because, as my boyfriend put it, this is when m. night shyamalan's "downfall" began. not that his films aren't great, but this one apparently began the beginning of people liking him less. i can see that, kind of, because this movie really takes an open mind to enjoy,…
Review by RVG ★★★½

I've heard so many great things about this movie that I was expecting something more.... more. It's definitely something different and I enjoyed it very much but it's a bit dull.
It's got some interesting concepts and characters but it's slow-paced and I feel like there are a few things that could've been explained/done better.

I've watched it twice and I still feel like I'm missing something....
Review by Garrett Smith ★ 2

The music was lovely and I wanted to give it a chance, but damn was this maddening.
Review by Skywarp82 ★★★★

Not sure why this movie got so much bad reviews. I really enjoyed it.
Review by Geoff ★★★★

Well that was pretty goofy.
Review by STARWARSFUR ★½

Throughout the entire film I was just contemplating turning it off and listen to some yeezy for the night but that is unfair to Shyamalan although he loves yeezy himself.

There is nothing much that I can really say about this film, the characters are not interesting at all and neither was the acting all that captivating. The writing was off and as a result the direction was terrible. Most of all my main gripe was just how boring this film really is and the score is really the only aspect that remains mildly entertaining.