Another thoughtful, fantastical tale from Shyamalan.

Rating: 7/10 (25 November 2000)

This fantastical tale from the director of sixth sense takes us into another realm of the; "it could happen"-"yeah in your dreams", that Shyamalan creates and takes us into with such gentle persuasion. Bruce Willis is a dull everyman with an unwordly gift...or two, or more. When I realised what world we were being brought into I wanted to shake my head in disbelief, but such is the Director's charm that I wanted more and more.
If you accept the premise you'll probably like this movie. My wife, on the other hand, had a fit of the giggles on a number of occasions. It's just that easy to find the movie either enthralling or ridiculous. It moves rather ponderously, but I didn't mind it, as it sets us up for the complete change of pace towards the end. Shyamalan again shows his uncanny ability to pick child stars, Bruce's son is played by Spencer Treat Clark, who comes close to stealing the movie with his earnest portrayal of a boy wanting his dad to be a somebody. Robin Penn is also good as Bruce's patient wife. Shyamalan again appears in his own movie in a scene I did not quite understand. Was it meant to show Bruce's fallibilities? There is again a surprising twist at the end, and although I was intrigued by it, Shyamalan robs it of it's interest by stopping the movie and wrapping it up abruptly and unsatisfactorily.