This passage from Drew McWeeny‘s Lady in the Water AICN review got me: M. Night Shyamalan “seems to have cast himself as the Writing Messiah, a man whose words are so powerful that they will alter the very fabric of our reality. The character idea alone would be a little nauseating, but for Night to step in and play his biggest role in any film except his largely-unseen first film…and to have it be this particular role… this is what I mean when I say he invites the comments on his ego now. This would be like George Lucas insisting on playing The Emperor or Alfred Hitchcock playing Norman Bates. It’s so lunkheaded you can’t look away. God help me, I√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Äû¬¢m not exaggerating.” Read the whole review. It’s a mean one, but it has a thorough and perceptive examination of Night’s egoistic artist psychology.