Movie Title: Lady In The Water.
Starring: Paul Giamatti, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jeffrey Wright, Cindy Cheung, M. Night Shyamalan, Freddy Rodriguez.
Date/Time Attended: The 4:30pm showing on Sunday, July 23rd...opening weekend is always the way to go with summer movies.
Movie Synopsis in One Sentence: A sea nymph enlists the help of residents of an apartment building in Pennsylvania, lead by their superintendent, to fulfill both her destiny and theirs.
The Good: If Paul Giamatti is in a movie, I always give it a chance (except for Big Fat Liar...and Planet of the Apes...and Big Momma's House). He really is a great actor, and proves it once again in this movie, turning a potentially annoying stutter into a perfectly executed character flaw. In terms of the story, I couldn't help but feel a little inspired by the hyper-comradre; by the end of the movie, I really did find myself engaged in the story and the characters. Plus, a few good scares go a long way in Shyamalan's movies.
The Grey Area: The anti-Hollywood/pro-people-helping-people themes are prevalent in his films...maybe a little too prevalent. Also, Shyamalan "The Actor" has his biggest role yet, and he actually isn't a terrible actor; then again, I hope he doesn't pull a Woody Allen and start casting himself with inappropriately young actresses in movies that are so convoluted I can't even stand to watch their trailers (on the other hand, the recent Match Point was really good, thankfully sans the Woody Allen). Ultimately, this movie has no "twist ending" but, more importantly, it does follow what I consider Shyamalan's more impressive talent of unraveling the mysteries of the story slowly, meticulously, and all the way until the last moments of the movie.
The Bad: A large amount of corny jokes does not, and will not, ever equal good humor. For example, racial humor can only take you so far before you find yourself saying "We get it! She's a funny speaking foreigner!" Also, I'm not sure why Shyamalan thought a movie like this needed so much goofy humor to begin with.
The Verdict: It's certainly doesn't pack the power of some of Shyamalan's earlier movies, but a quirky story and a unique style is enough to make the movie watchable.
If You Liked______, You May Like These: The Sixth Sense, Signs, AI: Artificial Intelligence.
FINAL GRADE: B-
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