"lady in the water" received negative reviews around the time of its release. on review aggregator website rotten tomatoes, the film received an approval rating of 25% based on 213 reviews, with an average rating of 4.2/10. the site's critical consensus reads, "a far-fetched story with little suspense and unconvincing scenarios, "lady in the water" feels contrived, pretentious, and rather silly." on metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 36 out of 100 based on 36 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". of shyamalan's role in the film, mark kermode said, "it's like someone pouring petrol over their heads and setting fire to themselves."