Splash (VHS)

I saw Splash when it first came out. It seemed like everyone was making a big deal out of how good that it was and that it was Ron Howard s first time directing a movie. I must admit that as hokey and silly as this film was I did enjoy it.

Splash is about young businessman named Alan (Tom Hanks) who falls for a girl, not knowing that she is a mermaid (Daryl Hannah). She saved him after he falls overboard. She finds his wallet and then finds him in New York City. Her entrance is certainly different. She shows up naked as the day she was born at the Statue of Liberty, WHILE A TOUR IS BEING CONDUCTED. The police department calls Alan and gives her a large I luv NYC T-shirt. She looks like a dirty old man s dream in it. But that is beside the point.

Did I mention that she couldn t speak English yet? We all should be able to learn a language the way that this girl learns English. She learns it from a TV-AT BLOOMINGDALE S. Of course she spoke like a commercial afterwards but it was funny. It was definitely one of the better scenes in the movie and helps make the movie endearing in a silly sort of way. How she ends up at Bloomingdale s is a funny tale in itself.

But to add excitement and a whole lot of silliness (almost to the point of stupidity) there is a scientist (Eugene Levy) that is tracking down this girl to prove she is a mermaid. The upside is that he adds some excitement to the plot because he is stalking her. The viewer knows to expect to see him show up throughout the movie. But there is also a flaw with it. This guy is very accident-prone. By the end of the movie, this scientist has more broken bones and various other injuries from chasing this mermaid. It provides a lot of slapstick humor and is funny for at least half to three-quarters of the time. But after that it becomes quite silly and redundant. At that point this scientist is more liability to this movie than asset. I felt that this character could have used some improvement and some reworking.

But Madison (the mermaid) finely is exposed and taken to a laboratory to be studied. Alan, his brother (John Candy), and the scientist (who now understands how wrong he was) go to the laboratory to rescue her. This is another point in this movie that needs some reworking. They get into the room where Madison is, past the security guard. Well, two of the guys bring her out all wrapped up so the guard can t recognize her. They give him this totally lame story about how one guy was injured by the lasers coming out of the mermaid s eyes and how she s going berserk. The guard isn t sure what to do and acting like an idiot who can t his back with both hands and all ten fingers. He is very awkward. It detracts from the movie instead of enhancing it.

But other than these two points this movie is great. The plot, while cute and funny, is good but could be better. It s your basic love story. You know what I mean. Boy meets girl and falls in love with the girl until he finds out she s really a fish. But he misses her so it doesn t make any difference. After all he comes to her rescue.

Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah seemed to have a great chemistry together though. They looked good together and interacted well with each other. Certainly the funniest scenes are between those two characters. The bathroom scene is a good example of what I mean. They spend the first day together having sex in his apartment after they do it in the elevator. Madison decides to take a bath in the middle of the night-with the bathroom door locked. Alan wakes up, finds her gone, and bangs on the bathroom door. She s in the tub, full fin. He hears her fall out of the tub and gets frantic. He wants the door open and she can t until she dries off (so the fins go away). She tries to get him to go make pancakes. When she finally gets to the door and opens it, her only explanation is that she s shy. Uh-huh, right.

It is just one of those films that no matter how silly or stupid it seems in places, you can t help yourself but like it. You laugh and cry. It s makes for a pretty good film for those over the age of thirteen. I have already seen a few times now. I like it every time.