The Last Airbender

After several grim, self-infatuated duds, M. Night Shyamalan delivers this hysterical knee slapper, which boasts more laughs-per-minute than Hot Tub Time Machine or The Goods. Too bad The Last Airbender isn’t a comedy. Based on the animated Nickelodeon series about a fantasy world populated by warring, matter-manipulating tribes, Shyamalan’s film is a gaseous and inert failure on every level. It’s one of the most racist Hollywood films in years, and I’ve seen 300. The risible villains are played by Dev Patel from Slumdog Millionaire and Aasif Mandvhi from The Daily Show. Ninety-five percent of the dialogue is laborious exposition, yet the film is utterly nonsensical, with most scenes ending abruptly (it feels like an 150-minute film shred to ribbons by suicidal studio execs). And like The Golden Compass, it’s supposed to be the first of a trilogy. That’ll be the day.