The last time I heard hissing in a public theater (always an event in Los Angeles, it seems) was at the Santa Monica Laemmle, every time George W. Bush was on screen in "An Inconvenient Truth."

Well, it happened again last night - at the end of the all-media "Lady in the Water" screening. Sometimes film commentators lose touch with that which is most important to maintain - impartiality. It saddens me to know that this film and this filmmaker will get the shit kicked out of them the next seven days, and regardless of whether harsh criticism is deserved or not, I expect this to be looked upon, eventually, as an embarassing moment for film criticism. "Lady in the Water" is a bad film. But it does not deserve even the level of distaste of "The Village," because at least Shyamalan's latest has ideas worth discussing, and worth considering. It is a character study with an absurdist plot, but far too often the literalist in film critics get the better of the community.

My review of the film tomorrow.