Again I find myself disagreeing completely with Lord Kermode even though this was one of those cases where I really believed my own opinion would pretty well match his. I will agree with most, the movie is absolutely ridiculous. But it’s also somehow ridiculously compelling too, at least for me. There are way more comedy moments than I expected, which completely diffuse any sense of pretentiousness (Kermode’s main criticism) and the performances are uniformly brilliant – yes, even Shyamalan’s overinflated version of himself. In my ideal world, Bryce Dallas Howard and Paul Giamatti would be up for awards for their work … they’re surprisingly perfect together and probably both deliver my two favourite performances from 2006 that I’ve seen so far. Even James Newton Howard’s score, though it’s pretty standard and familiar, didn’t fail to get the hairs on the back of my neck tingling. All in all, a hugely pleasant surprise I’ll be watching again probably pretty soon. I’d recommend that everyone watch this one with the lowest expectations possible, and just marvel at how it disarms you.

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