Comedy in Lady in the Water

Did you like all the funny scenes in LITW? I would have to say I loved them, but I want to see some other people's opinions on the topic. Do you think they should have been in the movie?

__________________
"You smell that? Do you smell that? Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for twelve hours. When it was all over I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory."

-Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore

That's a good question. My first thought upon reading your post was that the comedy was probably good, as it contributed to the whimsical feeling the film was probably going for. But of course it desired, on several occasions, to be taken quite seriously, so it's certainly a double-edged sword in that regard.

Night's films do feel as if they've been getting steadily funnier, and Lady in the Water is unquestionably his funniest to date. The comedy is fairly atypical, in that it rarely contains the kind of jokes or gags you could properly relay. Almost all of them depend on the mood the film has set, or the way they're delivered.

I think, ultimately, it's quite hard to say if it was good or not, if only because it's not always easy to understand what the film was trying to be. If the film were a bit more focused in any one direction, it'd be easier to judge the effects of the comedy throughout.

I thought the funny scenes were great. It kind of balanced out with the sad scene in it. The scenes were good.

__________________
"'How many more of you are there?'" - M. Night Shyamalan

i think it was clear the film was trying to be a modern day film fairy tale. at which it failed.

because, in any fairy tale, there is never REAL violence mixed with REAL comedy. cartoon violence with comedy yes, as in that "Hoodwinked" cartoon they just made to remake the RedRiding Hood story, but the violence was made amusing so it all fit.

this film seeks to keep the mystery and fear of a suspense thriller and marry it to real comedy which is just not a good mix.

what IS a good mix is mystery, fear, violence, suspense plus - IRONIC comedy. and subtle, non-deliberate, throwaway irony. for example, Bruce Willis in his Die Hard movies. The villain plays it straight, and our hero reacts to him - that's funny. If the villain who throws bombs and threatens lives and shoots guns cracks jokes - not good. Can't be taken seriously.

our director should have chosen his path and walked it straight. i agree, he chose 3 paths and tried to keep one foot on all of them at the same time. whimsical, serindipitous (american beauty), comedic/family oriented (cocoon, Hoodwinked), and thriller/drama/fighting some unknown power/underdog rises (die hard, terminator, matrix).

you got to pick one core theme. you can lightly, LIGHTLY sprinkle the others but they cannot stand out loudly against the core. if you do, you get a mess.

i think there's such a thing as having so many ideas you drownin them. too much creativity gets the best of you, unless you get the best of it.

__________________
life without movies is like cereal without milk. possible, but disgusting. but not nearly as bad as cereal with water. don't lie. I know you've done it.

I see your point; however, I found the funny parts to be enjoyable. It wasn't so much that I thought it was trying to be a comedy....

I think Night has no talent for comedy. He should stay away from the jokes because none of them work. The fact that much of the humor was self-referential highlights the fact that he's not really comfortable with comedy and has to force it out in a self concious way. I don't mean to knock Shyamalan, as he's a great filmmaker. He just needs to stay inside his range. Especially problematic, was that due to the nature of the film, most of the humor ends up being black comedy, which is the toughest to pull off, since it walks such a fine line. It's ok that Shyamalan isn't funny, I just don't see why he should bother trying to get laughs. Maybe he'll learn his lesson after this and just continue to play to his strengths.

__________________
"Like all dreamers, Steven mistook disenchantment for truth."

Most of the things that made me laugh in this film were subtle from the dialogue between M.Night's character and his sister to the Asian girl with the choppy English. I think alot of people probably will have a hard time judging the effectiveness of the humor because that's not something that M.Night has shown in his previous films, other than a few spots here and there. I think it's misguided to say that he went off in too many directions and shouldn't have moments of humor in his movies. I for one didn't think most of the "comedy" was intentional, it just flowed with the film. Probably the funniest part with the movie critic was the only part I really thought went out of its way to be campy and funny and to me, it was just that.

how is it misguided to think he went in too many directions? it's fine if you don't agree that he went in too many directions, or if you don't agree that some moments were funny. but i take exception to telling me the opinion I have is misguided - implying I don't know what i'm talking about or if i thought of it your way, i'd agree with you and see i'm wrong. that's the whole point of different opinions.

i see your points and how you think they're right. however, i still believe what i believe, and those beliefs are based my personal logic for film.

i still believe - contrary to some other posts but agreeing with strummer - m.night wasn't always funny. i mean the film he made, not just him. i'm going to get into detail to support my point, because i think it's valid.

i like him, i like humor. i enjoyed some of the humor, but i did not enjoy it in the film. it felt awkward and out of place, and when i'm aware of tension and danger, concern and fear, and it's palpable and believable, and then someone comes along and cracks a huge joke, or even a minor one, it pulls me way out of what i'm watching.

these are standard storytelling rules - if you choose a story, you use its elements wisely and in balance, and you don't get "happy" unless that in itself is a thematic envelope (ie, the film pushes the envelope because that is part of the package, like trainspotting).

as always, by directing, you are manipulating your audience - our feelings and emotions. if you play too much, or play messily or make bad choices, we notice and feel it, and the whole package loses points simply by making us aware you're playing with us, or making those mistakes.

there were several times during this movie where i stopped and noticed what m.night was doing. that is baaaad. utter faux pas for film making and storytelling - writing, acting. etc. on top of that, whatever I stopped and noticed, i felt was not done well, or shouldn't have been done at all.

i came to my "all over the place" conclusion because the humor was not only black comedy but included slapstick , and as mentioned, was very self-referential.

yes, the critic's scene in the hall was funny. to a point. had this movie been a spoof, it would have belonged there and made perfect sense and the laughs it gained would have been entirely appropriate. however, it wasn't a spoof, so that whole bit shouldn't have been there, or, should have been toned way down. you agreed it was over the top, but it was not the only element.

the sister and brother overdid it with their sis/bro egging. the korean girl (not just asian, korean) and her stereotypical speech, style, clothing, and attitude. the korean girl and her manic, yelping, wild conversations with her mother. the korean girl's mom and the scene with Heap "earning her trust." the random physical state of the weight lifting character and the repeated use of him to creep you out and amuse you.

there was this, and more. enough to make it a glaring error on the part of the script and direction. it WAS enjoyable, just not well put together (due to the poor handling of comedy/drama/fantasy/horror/mystery), and it was less enjoyable because of that.

I didn't mean to imply you aren't entitled to your opinion if that is the way you took it. I just think that this movie in particular is hard to lump together as being this or that because it was so different than any other M.Night movie to date. I thought that part of the point he was making by being "all over the map" was that people are to into pin pointing who, what, where and why they think a character should fill a role in a particular film. And that his point was that movies should not fill a jello mold each time out with clearly defined bits and pieces of what someone expects of a certain writer, producer or director.

None of the humor in this movie bothered me or felt out of place? Why? Well, two reasons:

-- I went into the movie feeling it was indeed a fairy tale (the opening cartoon drawing sequence set that up for me perfectly, although I'd argue it was a bit overdone and obvious). So, I expected just about anything and everything.

-- In real life (or, at least, MY real life), humor is a part of every day, even the days in which there are elements of sadness or scary events. That's just the way most human beings are: They can often react to things with humor. So, Heep curling up on the couch after having milk and cookies was funny because you could tell it was silly even to HIM yet he did it anyway. That's precisely how I'd feel and act, even with a fairy tale going on in the background of my life.

In fact, if it had been humorless it would have been less like real life to me. That's actually something I found tough to swallow with The Sixth Sense: too much suffocating seriousness to feel like real life. Good thing I usually don't go into Night's films feeling like I'm getting a real slice-of-life character-based-only movie.

__________________
Linda's Author Website
Linda's Amazon Author page

I like what Austruck said about how there is comedy and laughter in real life despite what we may be going through. I know, when I wake up in the morning, I may be cranky and not funny sometimes but later in the day I wake up and become happier in funnier. Something may happen in the day that I feel angry about. Maybe I'll go through a little confusion, some confidence and knowing, some sadness, some love, etc.

This is being human and comedy is part of it. I am really trying to understand the opinion that this movie is not focused, especially when you consider the lives of most people are not focused, learning to focus takes time, trial, error, and eventually success. Most people, though, can laugh at their errors and find laughter in every day no matter what is going on.

Life has comedy no matter what and a real portrayal of life is going to have comedy in it.

I agree. Unfortunately, though, the comedy in my life usually comes from me taking spectacular pratfalls in front of large crowds. One of my classics was last summer in Rockefeller Plaza. *ow* ....I think my klutzy nature is why I appreciate slapstick and loved the scene with Cleveland sprawled on the pavement.

It's funny, I've seen a couple of replies where people thought Cleveland's fall was either funner or supposed to be funny. I didn't, but that's just how different sense of humor can be. I especially love when a person wants the quality of a "great sense of humor" in another person. Humor is so subjective it's funny and laughable (ha!).

It's like food, it's extremely individual.

So you fell at Rocky Plaza? Sorry, I'm chuckling at the thought myself....

Yeah, and the place was swarming with people. Big audience. The worst part was I had just seen a guy in a business suit, with a cell phone and briefcase, trip over the same tiny curb and had a made a mental note to myself not to do the same thing. ... Oh, well. I'm sure I provided free entertainment for some of my fellow tourists, so maybe I made somebody's day.

Now that's even funnier!!!! And I'm not really laughing at you....I'm not mean at all like that.

Oh, heck. Go ahead. Laugh at me! I did-- (much later, of course).

I caught LITW one more time today, before it's gone from first-run theatres here. (I'm truly bummed at how fast movies come and go.) I thought there was humor all over the place. Most of it was sewn into the characters as a natural part of things, so it wasn't like, say, "Animal House" humor, but it still was funny. For instance, the image of Reggie standing there with a paper plate full of food while he stares down a scrunt was so funny. ("I am The Guardian. I come bearing picnic supplies!")

There were so many funny little things like that: the old guy (Bubchich?) coming out of the bathroom to a crowd of spectators; Cleveland being shooed away by the Korean mom (his body language was funny); the moment when the little boy returns to correct his interpretation. (It struck me as particularly funny today when he said, "I'm sorry. It was my first time." He's apologizing for misreading the Universe on the back of cereal boxes, as if it's something everyone else knows how to do.); Cleveland's comment to Story about the door to her underwater hideaway needing some work....I know these are all little moments, but they were nice; I can't imagine the movie without them.

I think my favorite little moment of humor was when the Korean daughter was translating part of the story and Cleveland asked what that last part was and here answer was "that doesn't pertain to the story, she says why couldn't I be like my sister and marry a dentist". I thought that was so funny.

I did enjoy the humor of it very much....but I enjoyed the entire movie immensely and I'm going to defend every word and scene of it!!!!!!!!