Synopsis
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.
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Cast
- Paul GiamattiCleveland Heep
- Bryce Dallas HowardStory
- Jeffrey WrightMr. Dury
- Bob BalabanHarry Farber
- Sarita ChoudhuryAnna Ran
- Cindy CheungYoung-Soon Choi
- M. Night ShyamalanVick Ran
- Freddy RodríguezReggie
- Bill IrwinMr. Leeds
- Mary Beth HurtMrs. Bell
Recommendations
- 60
The Hollywood Reporter
Shyamalan does project genuine menace and suspense into this mundane location, especially in nighttime scenes. But the magic that would transport you from reality into fantasy is missing. - 50
New York Magazine (Vulture)
What's odd about Lady in the Water is that for all Shyamalan's histrionics, he's overcontrolled. - 50
Entertainment Weekly
Shyamalan's most alienating and self-absorbed project to date. - 42
The A.V. Club
Shockingly misconceived, poorly executed effort. - 40
Variety
A ponderous, self-indulgent bedtime tale. Awkwardly positioned, this gloomy gothic fantasy falls well short of horror. - 40
Time
Lady doesn't work. Although he detonates a few terrific frissons involving the scrunt, the stabs at comedy are lurching and arrant. The spreading of tension from one character to many dilutes the mood. The would-be rapturous Spielbergian ending is on the wussy side. - 40
Austin Chronicle
There are moments of great beauty throughout (the film was lensed by Wong Kar-Wai cinematographer Christopher Doyle), and Shyamalan's heart is nowhere if not on his sleeve, but even these moments cannot steer Lady in the Water clear of its director's zealously over-earnest pretensions. - 40
L.A. Weekly
Lady in the Water feels very much like something its author made up as he went along; and, if it weren't so damn weird, it would most certainly put you right to sleep.
