Mermaids (1990)

A quirky chick-flick

My wife and I recently watched this movie and when it was over, she called it a "quirky chick-flick." I couldn't agree more. Cher is a talented actress, but that talent is truly displayed when she plays an unusual character. That is the case here. In this movie, she is Mrs. Flax, a woman with two daughters that is ahead of her time. Abandoned by her husband during the birth of her first child and having been impregnated by a guest at the hotel where she was working as a maid, Mrs. Flax stays in a location for a short time and then moves on. Given the time setting of the early sixties, it makes her very unusual.
This is very hard on her children, particularly the oldest daughter Charlotte. Having been unable to establish roots, Charlotte's goal is to become a Catholic nun, even though she is Jewish. Throughout the early part of the movie, there are voiceovers of what is going through her mind as she encounters various forms of temptation. These voiceovers add a degree of seriousness and comedy to what is the very serious problems of a teenage girl. Kate is the youngest daughter and a great swimmer with Olympic hopes. She practices holding her breath in the bathtub, which makes for occasional humorous interludes.
On a whim that is a stab on a map, they end up in a small town in Massachusetts, where Mrs. Flax meets Lou, a shoe salesman played by Bob Hoskins. Mrs. Flax and Lou hit it off immediately and they enter into an unusual romance. The degree to which Cher and Hoskins blend and play off of each other is amazing, it seems that their opposite actual personalities serves them very well as they play opposites on the screen.
There are two high points in the movie. The first is the assassination of President Kennedy and the reaction of the people. This is very well done, the tenseness of the people surrounding television sets in stores and businesses and the looks on their faces. The second is when Charlotte is experiencing her first sexual encounter and Kate falls in the water and almost drowns. This brings all of their tensions and problems to the surface, where Charlotte finally expresses all of the frustrations about her life and admits that her father will not be coming back.
Not by any means a great movie, this is one with many unusual twists and turns as people with problems try to cope and overcome them. It has the unusual aspect that you feel happy for Charlotte when she is engaging in sex for the first time, even though it clearly is the wrong thing to do at that time.
April 2, 2008

Gypsy Mama

Cher plays the gypsy mama to two daughter who moves every time she gets her heart broken. Winona Ryder plays the older daughter who finds being 15 and a parent to her mother difficult when she finds herself competing with mom for the attention of a handsom older classmate. An interesting film about the chaos of frequent moves and uncertainty in the early 60's. February 6, 2008

Charming movie about mother-daughter relationship

This is a great movie filled with likable characters, good acting and wonderful setting. Mermaids revolves around a single mom, Mrs Flax [played by Cher] who has the tendency to uproot her two daughters and move whenever the going gets tough. They end up in a town on the east coast and settle into a rather unconventional lifestyle, for Mrs Flax is quite an eccentric and quirky character, whose volatile relationship with her oldest daughter, Charlotte [well-acted by Winona Ryder] makes for great viewing [their on-screen chemistry as sparring mother & daughter is very believable]. Charlotte is passionate about Christ, and fantasises about a career as a nun, a bit odd since the Flax's are Jewish! The younger daughter Kate is played by an adorable Christina Ricci, who is a talented swimmer, and has her share of quirks too.

Bob Hoskins plays Lou, the small-town shoe store owner who lusts after Mrs Flax...though both Lou and Mrs Flax hardly seem compatible, both physically and in terms of personality, Cher and Hoskins make it work, and they share great chemistry on-screen.

The time setting for this movie is the 60s, and the sets and costumes are wonderful and authentic, reflective of the time period. An important historical event such as JFK's assassination is handled with sensitivity and decorum.

The only grouse I have with this DVD release is the lack of any special features. Otherwise, this is a movie that will warm your heart, and make you laugh. July 7, 2007

Another Moving Dance Scene

"Mermaids,"(1990) starring the well-known singer-actress-entertainer Cher, is another good romantic comedy that came along on the heels of the 1980s. The clarion-voiced Cher, of course, has been singing since the mid-60's, with her then-husband, Sonny Bono and without him, and has had many chart-topping hits; they had a widely popular television show in the 1970s. The actress won an Oscar for "Moonstruck," also made "Silkwood," "The Witches of Eastwood," and "Mask."

"Mermaids" is, without doubt, a chick flick. It was orignally meant to be the Scandinavian director Lasse Hallstrom's American film debut; however, Cher didn't care for his work. Neither did she care for Frank Oz's. So it was directed by former actor Richard Benjamin. Unfortunately, many sophisticates can't say "Richard Benjamin," without, in the same breath, declaring "tv sitcom." And when it's a chick flick too, well, the scorn.

The movie also stars the English Bob Hoskins, playing Lou Landsky, lusty, unlikely love interest to Cher's Mrs. Rachel Flax. The child Christina Ricci made her debut as Kate, Mrs. Flax's younger daughter, born to swim. Winona Ryder holds the camera as the older daughter, Charlotte, in heavy flirtation with Catholism although the Flaxes are Jewish. Ryder was then a child star, more particularly a teenage star, until Angelina Jolie stole "Girl Interrupted," out from under her, and she had her regrettable adventure in shoplifting. Oddly enough, the English teenage star Emily Lloyd had been signed to play this part, but she was blond. Cher, who evidently had a lot of say on this picture, thought viewers were unlikely to accept a blond as her screen daughter. So Ryder was brought in, and Lloyd received a studio settlement.

The picture's set in a lovingly recreated 1963, and treats the major world event of that year, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, with considerable discretion and grace. Mrs. Flax is a hot-blooded single mother who gets herself into talked-about trouble with men, then moves on to the next randomly-selected town. Her daughters just must get in the car. We open with the Flaxes' relocation to a pretty Massachusetts coastal town, where Mrs. Flax and, this time, her older daughter, will meet men. Kate will win swim meets.

The cinematography gives us plenty of pretty. The soundtrack's chock-a-block with early 60's hits. Included on the soundtrack, for sure, is Cher's adaptation of "The Shoop Shoop Song," initially made a hit by Little Eva; now far better known as "It's In His Kiss," by Cher. The script's witty: in an often-quoted line, Flax dismisses one of her daughter's teachers as a guy who drives an Edsel. Does "Mermaids" have the heart of a sitcom? Well, it has heart, for sure-- it's really about family. And I don't watch tv sitcoms, can't abide them, but I love this movie. The final, touching scenes, where the Flaxes dance around their kitchen, setting the table to Jimmy Soul's irresistible "If You Want to be Happy the Rest of Your Life, Never Make a Pretty Woman Your Wife," perfectly express the relaxed intimacy, and joy, of family life, and present us another moving, off-handed movie dance scene.







June 26, 2007

Great movie!!!

I absolutely love this movie! Such a cute one! I highly recommend it! March 29, 2007

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