The Lady in the Van Magazine"'s Elise Nakhnikian said the film is all about the "fastidious, somewhat timid, and reclusive playwright Alan Bennett", and stated the film's "annoying glibness is neatly summarized" by the line: "In life, going downhill is an uphill job". The Lady in the Van The Lady in the Van is a 2015 British comedy-drama film directed by Nicholas Hytner, and starring Maggie Smith and Alex Jennings, based on the novel of the same name created by Alan Bennett. It was written by Alan Bennett, and it tells the (mostly) true story of his interactions with Mary Shepherd, an elderly woman who
Lady in the Water Michael Medved gave "Lady in the Water" one-and-a-half stars (out of four) calling it, "…a full-out, flamboyant cinematic disaster, a work of nearly unparalleled arrogance and vapidity", adding, "…"Lady in the Water" is all wet…" Also panned was the fact that the film was based on a bedtime story Shyamalan told to his children; Pete Vonder Haar of "Film Threat" commented: "If Shyamalan is going to use his kids as a focus group for future projects, maybe he should start making movies for Nickelodeon already and stop wasting our time." Coincidentally, Shyamalan went on to direct a film adaptation of