MERMAIDS
A film review by Frank Maloney
Copyright 1990 Frank Maloney
MERMAIDS is Cher's first movie in two years, the last being the wonderful MOONSTRUCK. MERMAIDS is directed by Richard Benjamin and co-stars Winona Ryder and Bob Hoskins.
First off, let me just say that I love Cher and have since the early Sixties; she is outre and outrageous and sane and I admire her intelligence and acumen, her strength and courage, all of which, I think, are visible in her life and her acting. Next let me say that Cher is not a great actress; her range and her gifts are narrow, but within her limitations she can be amazing.
Cher was amazing in MOONSTRUCK. In MERMAIDS, she's wonderful, but not quite amazing. One of the reasons is that this movie is not quite the movie the older one was, it lacks that romantic moment of magic, the transformations of love. This is not to say that MERMAIDS doesn't try to achieve a moment like the one in MOONSTRUCK when all the principals are looking at the full, huge moon from their several windows. The comparable moment in MERMAIDS, which involves a room painted and lighted to look like a fantasy of the bottom of the sea fails; the audience does not enter into the vision, it merely sees Cher momentarily entranced by it. This is not Cher's fault, but the result of some faulty direction on the part of Richard Benjamin (who was once a comic actor himself and had a charming failure of a TV series, called HE AND SHE, co-starring his wife Paula Prentiss).
Another reason is that Cher seems to be stepping back to allow Winona Ryder plenty of elbow room. This is really Ryder's film. She is the voice-over narrator and provides the audience's point of view. The film is about her coming of age much more than it is about Cher's character, Rachel, doing some growing up of her own. The film is also about the relationship between the mother and the daughter, and most of the best scenes and best lines concentrate of this.
In fact, Winona Ryder gives the amazing performance in this film. Her range and her gifts seems unlimited and promise even greater things as she matures. She is the glue that holds this movie together.
The movie is mostly comedy with one melodramatic episode and it's the kind of movie with wonderful one-liners that people are going to be pleased to quote to each other. "Death is dwelling on the past and staying in one place too long." "All of Charlotte's ages are difficult." The script is by June Roberts, who wrote "Experience Preferred . . . But not Essential," and is based on a novel by Patty Danns.
In addition to Cher and Ryder, the other principals include Hoskins, who, although he has been adorable, has never been cuter than in his role of the shoe-store owner and boyfriend. In fact, his mugging and eye-brow waggling are on the verge of being totally out of control by the last scene.
And then there is the role of the younger daughter, played by Christina Ricci, who impressed me tremendously. A natural, eccentric child who seemed oblivious to the camera.
Finally, I need to say something about Benjamin's direction and Roberts' script. The finest, most singular scene in MERMAIDS concerns the morning John Kennedy was assassinated. I was in tears during the entire scene, it so perfectly brought back exactly what that experience was like for all of us who were alive then and old enough to understand it. Men standing in the street with tears streaming down their faces. Clots of people watching TV together in doorways. An entire nation come to a standstill. The evocation of '63-'64 is almost flawless (I saw a couple of impossible details in set decors, but that's pretty good); certainly the spirit of the times beautifully invoked. The soundtrack will undoubtedly find a good sales, being choked full of all sorts of "classics" of the period. These are praiseworthy qualities the director and writer have brought to the movie.
On the other hand, I was upset by some of the directional decisions. Benjamin made some awkwards cuts, for one thing, especially one where Cher slaps Ryder in the kitchen and suddenly we cut to the living room; it was absolutely disorienting, completely without continuity. Inexcusably awkward.
Overall, I can recommend MERMAIDS. It's funny, and entertaining, and it leaves you feeling good at the end. I note that the audience that I was part of was overwhelming composed of women. From this, I take it that MERMAIDS is women's film. I think that lots of people will go to MERMAIDS and they will go back a second and third time.
-- Frank Richard Aloysius Jude Maloney .
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