Film #6: Lady in the Water

Okay, I put this movie in my netflix queue immediately because I'm a fan of Shyamalan.

First of all, I think the acting in this movie was as good as it could be for a HORRIBLE STORY. One of my friends (who I think refuses to read this blog) says that he likes "what it tries to do." TRIES. The concept, I believe, is to put an ancient myth into modern times (and the quest to find one's "purpose", goodie goodie). But... no. It doesn't work. It's contrived, Shyamalan, and corny. The storytelling is congested and just ... not good. Bad writer/director! Bad! (that's meant to be in a chiding tone, like "bad dog!" Get it?

But what really grinds my gears is that I really liked most of his films (except for Unbreakable... it was a good concept but I felt underwhelmed in the end), and this really one disappointed me.

For some reason, there seemed to be a lot of fuss about the fact that Shyamalan played such a big role in his own film and maybe that threw him off. I disagree. I think the writing was just not up to par -- I can only say that PERHAPS if he had been sitting back and watching the whole thing he would have seen how bad it really was. That's the only thing I can maybe see as an agreement to that statement.

one star (Netflix rating: hated it)