Review of Splash (1984) by Sean L — 17 Jun 2014

Tom Hanks breaks out in this light, charming, modestly funny fish-out-of-water comedy (har har) about a man's lifelong encounters with a lustily enamored mermaid. It can be tremendously naive at times, and the plot is about as telegraphed as they come, but there's something intangible about this picture that manages to gloss over many of those shortcomings.

The central performance of Hanks is key, working as the plucky everyman he'd embody in most of his early repertoire, though this time it's dosed with a few fits of sharply possessive, unsettling anger.

Maybe those shades just look bad in retrospect, as the film's a full generation old now, but it's tough not to cringe at such puzzling spots in the modern climate. I think the humor falls into a similar trap, in that it was probably more relevant at the time than it is today.

A handful of comedies from the same era still serve as timeless examples of great humor (Ghostbusters, also released in 1984, springs to mind), and though a few of its gags and one-liners still connect, Splash isn't even in that ballpark after thirty years on the shelf.

Hanks's easy rapport with John Candy is worth celebrating, though, and Daryl Hannah is positively breathtaking as the sweet, innocent fish-tailed beauty at the center of all the action. Simple, straight entertainment that's beginning to fade as it grows older.