Release: January 26, 2016
Film: Lady in the Water
Tagline: Is this the FUNNIEST Shyamalan movie ever made? Nostalgia Critic says... YES!
This review contains examples of:
- Actor Allusion: Invoked with lines the Critic dubs onto Story, which hark forward to her actress Bryce Dallas Howard's latest major role as Claire Dearing.
- The Bet: The review opens with a sketch set in 2006, showing a poker game by directors who bet on whoever can create a hit-or-miss film: Jennifer Lee (Tamara) is challenged to do an animated film that lampshades Disney's cliches and stars two female leads, Peyton Reed (Doug) a superhero film that involves shrinking (despite the decline in popularity of the genre), and Chris Miller (Rob) and Phil Lord (Jim) an animated film which is also a deliberate Product Placement. Then Shyamal-Amon (Malcolm) joins in and pitches his idea for Lady in the Water, to which the other directors are disgusted.
- The Cameo: Christopher Harrison (Chris Rock from the Osmosis Jones review) returns as the unmasked Shyamal-Amon.
- Captain Obvious: The Critic's opinion on Story after deducing that his family's death triggered Cleveland's depression.
- Character Tic: The Critic lampshades how everyone in the film has a quirk (as do most characters in Shyamalan films), which is frequently being passed up as their defining character traits.
- Dead Horse Trope: Cleveland's hang-ups over his dead family have been so overemphasized the Critic compares it to kicking a dead horse so hard one can see the Nike logo on the footprint.
- Everyone Has Standards: Even Chester A. Bum complains that he is not high enough to produce a script as silly as Shyamalan's pitch for Lady in the Water.
- Inherently Funny Words: The Critic lampshades the implausibility of such names as "Story", "Narf", "Scrunt" and "Tartutic". He ends the first half with a sketch of an obviously drugged-up mother (Tamara) telling her son (Malcolm) a bedtime story while making up the names while drinking, burping or smoking cocaine.
- Laughing Mad: The Critic's reaction to Joey being able to read prophecies from cereal boxes.
- Sequel Episode: To the "Top 11 Funniest Shyamalan Moments" editorial, in which the entirety of this film is ranked at the very top.
- Shameless Self-Promoter: The Critic's opinion on M. Night Shyamalan's Creator Cameo as Vick Ran, a troubled writer whose current work Story claims may forever change the world.
- Shout-Out:
- At the scene of a splash in the pool, the Critic wonders if Mermando is there.
- Young-Soon Choi's black hair and red highlights make the Critic mistake her for Rufio.
- The frequency with which the characters mention "Narf" makes the Critic wonder if this was part of Pinky and the Brain's plot to Take Over the World.
- Story's requirement of a Symbolist, a Guardian, a Healer and a Guild is compared to the complications of a Dungeons & Dragons session.
- The frequency of low speaking tones is reacted with a clip of Abe Simpson screaming to "turn it up".
- The humanoid appearance of the Tartutics causes the Critic to dub into one of them this line:Critic/Tartutic: "I am Groot, your ass is grass.
- The appearance of the Great Eatlon to whisk Story to safety has the Critic sarcastically cheering that the eagles are coming.
- Signature Style: Shyamalan's overuse of close-up shots is compared to Roger Christian's overuse of Dutch Angles in Battlefield Earth, as if to hammer in how artsy they are to the audience.
- So Bad, It's Good: The Critic's In-Universe verdict on the film, even more so than The Happening.
- Something Else Also Rises: Ran is shown having an erection for every line of Story's prophecy of his future, lampshading how much of a Shameless Self-Promoter Shyamalan was.
- Squee: The Critic can barely hold his excitement over watching the film.
- Take That, Critics!: The Critic interprets Mr. Farber (the resident film critic) as a thinly-veiled potshot to everyone who criticized Shyamalan's films, given that not only was he a Straw Critic, but his erroneous feedback put Cleveland, Story and the other tenants in danger. The Critic then joins the audience in booing him.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: After years of portraying him as an antagonistic figure, Shyamal-Amon is finally allowed by the Critic to speak his mind. At this point he unmasks himself, and the review (and Shyamalan Month) ends with him explaining his ideas as the Critic, Malcolm and Tamara listen intently.
- Who Writes This Crap?!: The sheer insanity of the script has the Critic claiming it could be easily mistaken as having been written from a loony bin had it not been imprinted with Shyamalan's name.
Narf!
