History YMMV / LadyInTheWater

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The score by Music/JamesNewtonHoward is considered to be one of his best.

* DesignatedVillain: Farber. We’re supposed to dislike him because, as another character asks, "What kind of person would be arrogant enough to presume the intention of another human being?" He ''didn’t'', though. [[spoiler:When Cleveland asked him whom he should seek to fill the various roles in Story’s guard, he expressed it as a hypothetical question and Farber only gave qualities he’d expect each person to have. Cleveland nominated each tenant to a given role himself, and was ultimately the one who implemented the advice he was given incorrectly. It's even more jarring once the actual people who fulfil the roles are found out, as they all have the traits the Farber said they were likely to have, meaning that he was right all along.]]

* NeverLiveItDown: Shyamalan casting ''himself'' as the MessianicArchetype. So much so that he earned two awards for Worst Director and Worst Supporting Actor at the 27th [[UsefulNotes/GoldenRaspberryAward Golden Raspberry Awards]].

* TheScrappy: Vick. Unlike most examples it's not because he's annoying or unlikable. The real reason he's hated is because he's essentially destined to become the messiah of writers, and just so happens to be played by [[AuthorAvatar the film's writer/director]]. Needless to say, many viewers didn't care for Shyamalan making a character who exists just to brag about how amazing his writing is. The fact that this movie was widely panned only makes the ego trip even worse for most. Case in point, he was even nominated for and won in the Worst Supporting Actor category at the 27th [[UsefulNotes/GoldenRaspberryAward Golden Raspberry Awards]] as a result.
* SoBadItsGood: Among all of Shyamalan's flicks, you probably won't find an example that is more insane and high up its own ass than this one, starting with Shyamalan's hilariously pretentious self-casting as a writer who will go on to inspire the whole of humanity. Thanks to that, it is also one of his funniest films for critics to rip apart (which is only fair, since the resident critic character literally gets ripped apart by a huge grass wolf monster).

* DesignatedVillain: Farber. We’re supposed to dislike him because, as another character asks, "What kind of person would be arrogant enough to presume the intention of another human being?" He ''didn’t'', though. [[spoiler:When Cleveland asked him whom he should seek to fill the various roles in Story’s guard, he expressed it as a hypothetical question and Farber only gave qualities he’d expect each person to have. Cleveland nominated each tenant to a given role himself, and was ultimately the one who implemented the advice he was given incorrectly. It's even more jarring once the actual people who fulfil the roles are found, as they all the traits the Farber said they were likely to have, meaning that he was right all along.]]

* DesignatedVillain: Farber. We’re supposed to dislike him because, as another character asks, "What kind of person would be arrogant enough to presume the intention of another human being?" He ''didn’t'', though. [[spoiler:When Cleveland asked him whom he should seek to fill the various roles in Story’s guard, he expressed it as a hypothetical question and Farber only gave qualities he’d expect each person to have. Cleveland nominated each tenant to a given role himself, and was ultimately the one who implemented the advice he was given incorrectly.]]

* NeverLiveItDown: Shyamalan casting ''himself'' as the MessianicArchetype.

* TheScrappy: Vick. Unlike most examples it's not because he's annoying or unlikable. The real reason he's hated is because he's essentially destined to become the messiah of writers, and just so happens to be played by [[AuthorAvatar the film's writer/director]]. Needless to say, many viewers didn't care for Shyamalan making a character who exists just to brag about how amazing his writing is. The fact that this movie was widely panned only makes the ego trip even worse for most.

* DorkAge: It was Shyamalan's first major film to bomb at the box office, yet again attracting even more flak for its TwistEnding.

* TheScrappy: Vick. Unlike most examples it's not because he's annoying or unlikable. The real reason he's hated is because he's essentially destined to become the messiah of writers, and just so happens to be played by [[AuthorAvatar the film's writer/director]]. Needless to say, many viewers didn't care for Shymalan making a character who exists just to brag about how amazing his writing is. The fact that this movie was widely panned only makes the ego trip even worse for most.

** Also Story, but that’s mainly because she’s played by Creator/BryceDallasHoward, whose performance in M. Night’s previous film, ''Film/TheVillage'', many critics liked.

* SoBadItsGood: Among all of Shyamalan's flicks, you probably won't find an example that is more high up its own ass than this one, starting with Shyamalan's hilariously pretentious self-casting as a writer who will go on to inspire the whole of humanity. For that same reason, it's also one of his funniest films for critics to rip apart (which is only fair, since the resident critic character literally gets ripped apart by a huge grass wolf monster).

* SoBadItsGood: Among all of Shyamalan's flicks, you won't find an example that is more high up its own ass than this one due to all the {{metafiction}}al writing going on, starting with Shyamalan's hilariously pretentious self-casting as a writer who will go on to inspire the whole of humanity. For that same reason, it's also one of his funniest films for critics to rip apart (which is only fair, since the resident critic character literally gets ripped apart by a huge grass wolf monster).

* SoBadItsGood: Among all of Shyamalan's flicks, you won't find an example that is more high up its own ass than this one in terms of artistic metacommentary, starting with Shyamalan's hilariously pretentious self-casting as a writer who will go on to inspire the whole of humanity. For that same reason, it's also one of his funniest films for critics to rip apart (which is only fair, since the resident critic character literally gets ripped apart by a huge grass wolf monster).

* SoBadItsGood: Among all of Shyamalan's flicks, you won't find an example that is more high up its own ass than this one, starting with Shyamalan's hilariously pretentious self-casting as a writer who will go on to inspire the whole of humanity. For that same reason, it's also one of his funniest films for critics to rip apart (which is only fair, since the resident critic character literally gets ripped apart by a huge grass wolf monster).

* SoBadItsGood: This movie is just filled with some of Shyamalan's most baffling decisions as a writer/director and appears to give a good insight on Shyamalan's very own opinions and thoughts about his artistic career, starting with his hilariously pretentious self-casting as a writer who will go on to inspire the whole of humanity. For those same reasons, it's also one of his funniest films for critics to rip apart (which is only fair, since the resident critic character literally gets ripped apart by the huge grass wolf monster).

* SoBadItsGood: This movie is just filled with some of Shyamalan's most baffling decisions as a writer/director and appears to give a good insight on Shyamalan's very own opinions and thought processes about his career, starting with his hilariously pretentious self-casting as a writer who will go on to inspire the whole of humanity. For those same reasons, it's also one of his funniest films for critics to rip apart.

* SoBadItsGood: This movie is just filled with some of Shyamalan's most baffling decisions as director, starting with his hilariously pretentious self-casting as a writer who will go on to inspire the whole of humanity. For those same reasons, it's also one of his funniest films for critics to rip apart.

* SoBadItsGood: This movie is just filled with some of Shyamalan's most baffling decisions as director, starting with his hilariously pretentious self-casting as a writer who will go on to inspire the whole of humanity. For those same reason, it's also one of his funniest films for critics to rip apart.

* SoBadItsGood: This movie is just filled with some of Shyamalan's most baffling decisions as director, starting with his hilariously pretentious self-casting as a writer who will go on to inspire the whole of humanity.

%%* SoBadItsGood

* UncannyValley: Story is a very beautiful, almost ethereal being. Though sometimes, either by the slow changing of her hair color, her incredibly deep glassy innocent eyes, or pale skin, something seems to always look...off about her. The film poster features her giant face against water and she somewhat looks like an alien.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The score by Creator/JamesNewtonHoward is considered to be one of his best.