Last night, I watched The Station Agent, which is really quite sweet and features a nice performance from Peter Dinklage. And then this afternoon, I watched The Lady in the Water, which is sort of stunning in its lousiness. I’ve genuinely enjoyed all of Shyamalan’s previous films — including the oft-maligned Signs and The Village — but I found almost nothing to like about this film. Thinly drawn caricatures, unconvincing and convoluted mythology, ponderous direction, giant leaps in logic and believability, terrible dialogue that drowns itself in heavy exposition, out-of-place comic relief, mediocre special effects — and all of it weighed down by Shyamalan’s ego and evident disdain for critics. If nothing else, the film is proof that a great actor can sometimes redeem even lousy material, but also that lousy material can undo even the greatest of actors. There are some bad performances here, mostly among the supporting players, and nobody comes out looking particularly good. But the blame rests squarely with its writer and director.
I’ve heard some very bad things about The Happening, his most recent follow-up. Do I dare tempt fate and watch that too?
Ugh. I watched ‘Lady in the Water’ over the holidays, too, and it was pretty terrible. I think the whole thing started to come apart at the seams when the first mention of ‘narf’ was made.
I’d still like to see ‘The Happening,’ if only because I feel like poor Night needs my support. How else will he be able to keep making his movies?