YMMV / The Shallows

• Alas, Poor Scrappy: The drunk man who tries to steal Nancy's things. He gets ripped in half by the shark. Nancy is forced to watch this as well, and she is clearly horrified.
• Broken Base: The subplot of Nancy having conflict with her father from dropping out of medical school. Some find it works, while others find it forced and tacked on. The final scene between them thus is split between those who find it a Heartwarming Moment or unbearably cheesy.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Many critics have taken a liking to the seagull featured in the film.
• Fan-Preferred Cut Content: Many fans wish the deleted scenes where Chloe sees a shark fin in the background of a picture her sister sent her and Nancy tries to imitate seagull cooing to pass time had stayed in.
• Fridge Brilliance: When retrieving the helmet with the camera, Nancy finds one of the shark's shed teeth, which she tucks into her wetsuit. Not only does it prove a useful tool later, but many coastal and island traditions hold that wearing a shark tooth while in the ocean will protect one from a shark attack. The tooth doesn't protect Nancy from being attacked, but she does survive. . . and the period while she has the tooth on her person is the farthest the shark is from actually getting her while she's in the water.
• Funny Moments:
  • The seagull's name is Steven Seagull, and is named as such even in the credits.
  • The first flare Nancy shoots up in the sky goes up about 30 feet into the air, then abruptly fizzles out and drops into the ocean. Her expression is eloquent "You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!."
• Iron Woobie: Nancy endures an ungodly amount of torment throughout the movie, but keeps pressing on and fighting back.
• Narm:
  • While on the whale carcass, the shark starts dragging it out further to sea. Nancy then says "where are you taking me?" in a tone of voice that suggests she expects an answer.
  • Nancy has a habit of stating the obvious when certain things are happening, which comes across less as Madness Mantra and more as assuming the audience is stupid and won't get what she's doing. Overlaps with Calling Your Attacks too.
• Nausea Fuel: When stranded on the rock, Nancy is so hungry she tries eating a live crab, only to almost immediately vomit it back up. Then the seagull then decides to pick the crab out of the puddle of vomit and eat it.
• She Really Can Act: Even among those who dislike it, many critics agree that this movie, along with The Age of Adaline, win back Blake Lively into their good graces.
• Squick: Nancy performing Meatgrinder Self-Surgery to stitch up her wound with nothing more than a blunt necklace and some earrings. Yeesh. The blood alone would be bad enough, but Nancy howls in pain throughout the entire thing.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The great white featured in the film is completely CGI and it looks absolutely amazing.