Bob Balaban, Bryce Dallas Howard, Freddy Rodriguez

A modest building manager named Cleveland Heep rescues a mysterious young woman from danger and discovers she is actually a narf, a character from a bedtime story who is trying to make the treacherous...( read more  read more... ) journey from our world back to hers. Cleveland and his fellow tenants start to realize that they are also characters in this bedtime story. As Cleveland falls deeper and deeper in love with the woman, he works together with the tenants to protect his new fragile friend from the deadly creatures that reside in this fable and are determined to prevent her from returning home.

Flixster Users

54% liked it

396,182 ratings

Critics

24% liked it

204 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 50 min.

Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan

Release Date: July 21, 2006

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DVD Release Date: December 19, 2006

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Stats: 25,270 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (25,270)


  • September 14, 2009
    I thought this was a sweet little movie, I'm not so sure why it got so panned by the critics? M. Night does have a bit of an ego though, which is becoming a problem, at least his signature unpredictable (predictable) ending was different!
  • April 8, 2009
    A solitary motel caretaker finds a young woman in the swimming pool and discovers that she is a water nymph who he must help to escape the clutches of an evil creature lurking in the backyard. MNS finally ditches his trademark "twist" formula for which I am thankful because that ...( read more)got real old, real fast. Instead he has produced a modern fairytale that reminded me a little of the work of Hayao Miyazaki and Tim Burton. Paul Giamatti brings pathos, and more importantly, humour to his part, something sorely missing from MNS' previous work; I always thought he took himself far too seriously. Bryce Dallas Howard's elfin beauty also makes for a perfect nymph, and their relationship is sweetly endearing. Pretty much all of the other characters are a little too peripheral and underwritten and the whole format of fantasy means that there is no logic to events meaning little in the way of suspense or surprises. But it does have some charm, and is a pleasant little story that's probably far more satisfying for children than adults.
  • April 5, 2009
    Wow this was boring, didnt explain itself very well, didnt make much sense and was acted badly. The effects where nice for the little sections of fantasy but basically it was boring and is a complete waste for a interesting story, could of been much more.
  • November 25, 2008
    Awkwardly amusing, but infinitely self-indulgent nonsense by Mr. M Night Shyamalan, the 'master' of plot twists, that hateful and failed aspirant to genius who always comes up with cheap, brain-dead ideas, wraps and sells them with the absurd conviction that he is creating the ul...( read more)timate fantastic-messianic bedtime story.
  • November 15, 2008
    "Time is running out for a happy ending."

    M. Night Shyamalan writes and directs this self-proclaimed, grown-up "bedtime story" about an apartment building superintendent named Cleveland (Paul Giamatti) who discovers a magical sea-nymph named Story (Bryce Dallas Howard) ...( read more)who's been transported to this world and is living in the building's own swimming pool. As this bizarre revelation sinks in, Cleveland becomes enraptured by her other-worldly charm. As he shelters her in his apartment, other inhabitants of the building begin falling into place as representations of characters from an Eastern myth in which these mermaids, or "narfs," co-exist unhappily with more beastly and violent characters. In human reality, the forces of darkness that threaten the heroes of a fairy tale prove to be much more terrifying, and the victory of good over evil is by no means guaranteed. Jeffery Wright, Jared Harris and Mary Beth Hurt co-star, as well as Shyamalan himself, playing the visionary writer Vick.

    Review
    Contrived. Motionless. Impossibly false characters. Boring. Without reason. A 10 minute movie packed into 105 minutes. So much for the story line. The director's name is the first that appears in the closing...nice of him to remind the viewer of who is responsible for the outcome. Mechanically, the movie is well filmed, well edited (I guess), and looks decent on screen. Paul Giamatti is a fine actor who deserves much better writing for his talents.

    This is the fifth M. Night movie that I have seen and admittedly the worst movie he's ever done. The dialog is performed with a "who cares" feeling, almost like the director filmed the cuts before the actors were awake. Monotone lines, an inflatable date has more passion within.
  • November 20, 2009
    Sorry, but M. Night messed this one up. There wasn't even a twist at the end.
  • November 14, 2009
    Io non lo so perché questo film sia così odiato da (quasi) tutti, personalmente l'ho trovato davvero bello, delicato, con una bella storia, una favola.
    Paul Giamatti come al solito è stato bravissimo e Bryce Dallas Howard è pura poesia.
    Booooh.
  • November 11, 2009
    Oh crap! This may be one of the worst movies I?ve ever seen, and definitely the worst this year. I know it didn?t come out this year but I got it because I thought my wife would be interested. She?s been a fan of this guy since The Sixth Sense. I?ve taken the Spike Lee spiel that...( read more) I?ve offered people when Spike was making his early movies. He?ll get better if he directs something that he didn?t write, then we?ll see if he?s a truly gifted filmmaker. Then spike did Malcolm X and we saw this guy can really make good movies. Same for Shaymalan. Except, I watched this movie and read more about this guy. I actually hope all his future movies bomb until he is forced to change completely in style and personality.

    He deserves to fail flat out and become downtrodden and bankrupt before making another hit because this movie stunk so bad and he fought so hard to get it made. It obviously shows delusion, hubris, and utter stupidity.
  • November 2, 2009
    Weird but wonderful....
  • October 31, 2009
    !Comercial or Stupid! :|

Critic Reviews


September 13, 2006
Roger Ebert, RogerEbert.com

[Perhaps it's] improvised and protracted, nonsensically and unnecessarily, just for the sake of stringing us along. And, maybe, putting us to sleep. full review

July 26, 2006
Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness

A case study of an increasingly defensive filmmaker falling off the auteurist deep end. full review

July 21, 2006
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle

In the end, Shyamalan's stumbling Lady never gives us a reason to believe. full review

July 21, 2006
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

Crazy as this might sound, it turns out that self-indulgent ramblings designed to put your children to sleep are pretty much the opposite of art. full review

July 21, 2006
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

With his work beginning to seem as insular as the communities he's imagining, Shyamalan really needs to try directing someone else's screenplay. full review

July 21, 2006
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

The movie is a muddle, burdened with too many characters and a sorry lack of thrills, flair and coherence. Yet Shyamalan's talent is real. full review

July 21, 2006
Kurt Loder, MTV

The story is exceedingly dull; to become involved in it would require not just a suspension of disbelief, but a suspension of mental faculties altogether. [A] bewildering misstep for a director of Shy... full review

July 20, 2006
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

Lady in the Water challenges us to believe in the power of myth. But the big challenge here is surviving the tedium of Shyamalan's meandering inventiveness. What's supposed to be fanciful storytelling... full review

July 20, 2006
Colin Covert, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

Shyamalan is too gifted a filmmaker to waste his time, and ours, on such twaddle. The best thing that could be done with Lady in the Water is to deep-six it and hope that his next project doesn't occu... full review

July 17, 2006
David Edelstein, New York Magazine

Like Splash reworked by a grandiose Sunday-school teacher. full review

View more Lady in the Water reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • victorgagan
    November 1, 2008
    dull n boring....saw it for half an hour...n felt like sleeping...could not gather courage to view completely....
  • vidale132
    October 21, 2007
    It was not what I expected to see
  • Lindseyloolovesu
    July 17, 2007
    Great movie!!! The only thing that annoyed me is that it was so quiet and it was hard to hear, but other than that I loved it! It makes you think! During the whole movie you are trying to figure who has what purpose and it is crazy! I love all of M. Night's movies!!
  • tone143
    July 13, 2007
    What a polarity in reviews on this one amongst my friends!I don't know what that means,but it seems to me that either truly great films or truly awful ones invite this sort of extreme divisiveness.I'll leave it at that...
  • donrobertsrules
    July 2, 2007
    Awful
  • Ashleymichelle311
    June 25, 2007
    I loved this movie just for the simple fact that it's different. It's a fairy tale that doesn't need to have fancy dresses and tiaras or a wicked witch.

    And I mean, come on. Who doesn't wanna be able to read Cereal boxes?!!! XD
  • Iridessa
    June 25, 2007
    This movie was pretty good but the village sucked.
  • murphyshoney
    June 12, 2007
    I thought it was beautiful the music gets me everytime,James Newtown Howard made the music sound amazing I even downloaded the Prologue!! I loved it and cant say much more!!
  • xxxitsbritneybitchxxx
    June 8, 2007
    i liked the ending

    thought it was a bit slow

    i will give it three stars
  • xxxitsbritneybitchxxx
    June 8, 2007
    im watching this movie as im writting this

    it seems really slow

    i will say more when i watched it all

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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Lady in the Water Trivia


  • What type of creature was the title role in Lady in the Water?  Answer »
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