"Mermaids" could well be a Cher fan's dream come true, a lively tale that allows her to play the kind of free-loving free spirit she used to sing about in 1970s numbers like "Dixie Girl" ("waitin' on tables and passin' myself around" went the lyric) and "He'll Never Know" (in which she vowed never to let her husband find out "his son's only mine").
As the flashy, uninhibited Rachel Flax, a single mom in 1963 who has some very 1983 ideas about how to handle both her kids and her men, Cher is playing, if not exactly close to the bone, very close to her public persona. It's the sort of star turn that could have added up to one long in-joke, but the actress sells the character and Rachel is far more likable onscreen than she was in Patty Dann's delightful novel. By always staying just a little bit ahead of her audience, Cher manages to cash in on her image and transcend it at the same time.
Matching her every step of the way is the ever-endearing Winona Ryder, who brings a heartbreaking sincerity and magnificent comic timing to Charlotte, Rachel's pious daughter who finds herself alternately tormented by the flames of Hell and the fires of adolescent lust. Charlotte is so desperate to become a saint -- or at the very least, a nun -- she's immersed herself in the lore of the church, forcing Rachel to remind her, in a snide voice, "Charlotte, we're Jewish." Everything Rachel does seems to embarrass Charlotte, whether it's flirting outrageously with a kindly shoe salesman (Bob Hoskins) or using cookie cutters to trim the corners off sandwiches.
The only common ground between the two women is their affection for baby Kate (Christina Ricci), the product of Rachel's one-night-stand with an Olympic swimmer. Small surprise that Kate is as obsessed with water sports as Charlotte is with Catholicism. Adorable without being for a moment self-conscious or sticky-sweet, Ricci is a child star worth celebrating.
"Mermaids" is loose and funky, drifting from episode to episode as casually as Rachel swings from man to man. But while there's not a surplus of plot, the movie is brimming with warmth, pure eccentricity and good humor. Most importantly, it allows Ryder and Cher to play off each other and the vivid, often hilarious clashes that ensue make this a delight. James Sanford
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