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'Lady in the Water': Symbols don't add up to satisfy

Following 1999's The Sixth Sense, which caught most moviegoers off-guard in a pleasurable way, many people insist that they have caught the surprises in M. Night Shyamalan's later films (Unbreakable, Signs, The Village) long before he wanted them to.

Maybe so, but even if you guessed the endings of those films, that does not negate the fact that the writer-director is a first-rate storyteller. We lean in with delight, drawn into his web, eager to be tricked again.

Warner Bros. Pictures 'Lady in the Water' C- The verdict: A muddled, arbitrary, symbol-laden tale unlikely to leave you with that satisfied sigh of having been unnerved, spooked or misdirected. Director: M. Night Shyamalan Starring: Paul Giamatti, Bryce Dallas Howard, Freddy Rodriguez, Jeffrey Wright, Bob Balaban Run time: 1 hour, 50 minutes. Release date: July 21, 2006 Rating: PG-13 for some frightening sequences. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime [an error occurred while processing this directive]

That mastery of yarn-spinning, however, is precisely the skill that seems absent in his latest film, Lady in the Water, a muddled, arbitrary, symbol-laden tale unlikely to leave you with that satisfied sigh of having been unnerved, spooked or misdirected.

According to Shyamalan, not known for being trustworthy when it comes to information about his films, Lady in the Water began as a bedtime story for his two daughters. Perhaps, but the film it spawned is bound to keep them up at night pondering what it could possibly mean. It is a juxtaposition of the fanciful and the mundane. At a drab apartment complex named The Cove in the suburbs of Philadelphia, grieving, stuttering maintenance man Cleveland Heep (meek, awkward Paul Giamatti) discovers a female sea creature who says her name is Story (Bryce Dallas Howard of The Village). This nymph, who turns out to be something called a "narf," needs assistance getting back to her home beneath the swimming pool, because she has to elude the "scrunt," a snarling wolf-jackal with fur like forest nettles.

Fortunately, among the colorful tenants of the complex is an old Chinese woman who recalls the bedtime story of the narf from her youth. She explains that the mermaid-like creature surfaces near humans with unusual powers, unknown to even themselves, that can help her return home. So Cleveland, who shows a paternal concern for Story, must find the tenants who are the Interpreter, the Healer and the Guardian.

Having emerged as one of the most successful directors of the past decade, Shyamalan is able to attract some very good actors, even in very small roles. Residing at The Cove are Jeffrey Wright as a father obsessed with crossword puzzles, Mary Beth Hurt as a woman drawn to protecting animals, Bill Irwin as a man who sits and stares off into space, Freddy Rodriguez as an asymmetrical body builder and, most enjoyably, Bob Balaban as a film critic who despises predictable, formulaic movies.

Shyamalan, who usually gives himself a Hitchcockian walk-on, here casts himself as a visionary writer whose unpublished manifesto could revolutionize the world.

Anyway, Cleveland goes around the apartment complex, persuading people to take their ordained parts in helping Story. Of course, he initially gets it all wrong, but when it is eventually sorted all out, the solution seems just as arbitrary.

So many of Shyamalan's earlier films were aimed at all ages, whereas Lady in the Water is too scary for young ones and not scary enough for adults looking for a horror jolt.

Shyamalan is not going for his trademark twist ending this time, though what exactly he is going for remains unclear. In his mind, all of these fairy tale symbols add up to something. For the audience, though, they do not add up to a satisfying movie.