Lady in the Water (PG-13)
More soggy than scary. Still, not for youngsters.
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- Studio: Warner Bros., Warner Bros.
- Directed By: M. Night Shyamalan
- Cast: Paul Giamatti, Bryce Dallas Howard, M. Night Shyamalan
- Running Time: 110 minutes
- Release Date: 07/21/2006
- Video/DVD Release Date: 12/19/2006
- Genre: Thriller
- MPAA Rating: PG-13
- MPAA Explanation: some frightening sequences
Parents need to know
Families can talk about Heep's dedication to figuring out the story/puzzle, as this shows his generosity as well as his need to work through his own past trauma. How does Story inspire Heep and the other tenants? How do the diverse characters work together toward a common goal? How does Story's story become everyone's?
Message
Social Behavior:
Disparate apartment dwellers work together to help a nymph-like girl return to her storybook home.
Consumerism:
Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco:
"Slackers" in apartment complex smoke cigarettes even though it's against the rules (they keep a heaping ashtray outside their door).
Violence
Monstrous, wolflike CGIed dog (covered in grass, with red eyes and big fangs) attacks and drags off Story, and ferociously kills a character (in briefly violent images and cuts).
Sex
Story's nakedness is mostly out of frame; Anna calls Heep a "player."
Language
Minor profanity ("ass," "damn").
Common Sense says
What's the story?
Reviewed by Cynthia Fuchs
Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti) appears an ordinary fellow, a Philadelphia apartment complex superintendent with a bit of a stutter and shuffling gait. He knows his tenants by name, gently reminding them to follow the rules (no swimming in the pool after 7pm, no smoking in the units), but mostly keeps to himself. When someone starts making noises in the pool during the night, he feels he has to take a stand. But then he discovers the swimmer is not a tenant, but a pale girl named Story (Bryce Dallas Howard), who comes from the water (she calls it "the blue world"), and has arrived among humans in order to deliver what she terms an "awakening" to a very special human. When Story is attacked by a dangerous dog-monster called a "scrunt" (a CGIed creature who lurks in the lawn, then leaps up to rip her flesh with its big teeth), Heep assembles his tenants -- including a single father (Jeffrey Wright), a woman who loves animals (Mary Beth Hurt), a kid fond of lifting weights (Freddy Rodriguez), a philosophical slacker (Jared Harris), and a film critic named Farber (Bob Balaban) -- each with his or her own particular task to save her.
Is it any good?
More soggy than scary, LADY IN THE WATER follows a sad, inward-looking man's efforts to make sense of random violence. Much like previous protagonists in M. Night Shyamalan's movies, Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti) harbors a secret and finds salvation in a generous and heroic act. Once again, this act is prodded along by otherworldly and very carefully arranged forces. This time, however, the arrangement is awkward and overexplained, as if the movie doesn't trust viewers to get it.
Heep's own reading improves throughout Lady in the Water. His earnest enthusiasm, sharp wit, and utter commitment to saving his new friend Story suggest that effective readers look beyond themselves. Writers might also take note.
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