SPLASH (1984)
Article 3860 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-29-2012
Posting Date: 3-9-2012
Directed by Ron Howard
Featuring Tom Hanks, Darryl Hannah, Eugene Levy
Country: USA
What it is: Mermaid romantic comedy

A mermaid falls in love with a neurotic produce distributor, and he ends up falling in love with her as well. But will he still love her when he discovers her true nature?

I remember that, despite the movie having a good critical reputation, I had no desire to see it at all for the simple reason that I find mermaids to be one of the least interesting fantastic creatures of legend. And, despite the fact that the movie is not badly done, it didn’t really change my opinion on that point. As for the movie itself, I can see its appeal all right, but I find the Tom Hanks character to be rather unappealing; he’s a bit strident at times, and I find him a bit of a jerk, and I really don’t care to spend as much time with him as the movie does. From a comic perspective, my favorite actor here is Eugene Levy; I’ve always liked him from SCTV, and he does manage to make me smile and laugh more than anyone else here. I’m sure some others would opt for John Candy, but the odd thing for me is that I really don’t laugh at his work much; I admire some his character touches, and I do think he had real acting ability, but he just didn’t make me laugh. I do like the way the movie allows both the Levy and Candy characters to becomes slightly more complex as they go along, but overall, the movie is simply not a favorite of mine, though I do credit Darryl Hannah for making her own character likable enough that I cared about her.