Mermaids

Mermaids
December 14, 1990
Orion Pictures
Comedy, Drama, Romance, Historical, Musical
VHS
B

Based on a book I've never read, this movie has a more intelligent script than your average big Hollywood movie, even if it's only "a big movie" in comparison to my other films from 1990.  It's set the Fall through Spring of '63 and '64, in a lovely small town in Massachusetts.  The unconventional family of the Flaxes, 33-ish Rachel (played by 44-year-old Cher), her daughters 15-year-old Charlotte (19-year-old Winona Ryder) and 9-year-old Kate (10-year-old Christina Ricci in her big-screen debut) are somewhat nomadic, thanks to Rachel's restlessness and fear of commitment, but this time her daughters want to stay in one place.  Rachel's new boyfriend, the surprisingly sexy Lou (48-year-old Bob Hoskins), also wants them to stick around.  Meanwhile, Charlotte, despite her ambition to be a nun (although the Flaxes are Jewish), longs for 26-year-old Joe.

You can see why I've chosen so many genre labels.  As for "musical," it's not so much that everyone breaks into song (although Cher can be heard covering "The Shoop Shoop Song [It's in His Kiss]" over the closing credits, and in the music video on the VHS version), as that the songs set the various moods and help flesh out the time period.  By the time the Flax "girls" are clowning to "If You Want to Be Happy," you see what a journey they've been on, as a family and as individuals.  Even Kate has her own arc and, although she's far from a stereotypical little girl, it's clear why the one thing Rachel and Charlotte agree on is how lovable Kate is.  The dynamic between mother and older daughter is very well done, and I like how, although everyone is flawed, there are no villains here.  The direction, by Richard Benjamin, is overall solid.

It's not a great movie, and indeed this was only my third or fourth viewing, so I don't have a strong attachment to the film.  But I definitely recommend it, as long as (as with the other 1990 movies I own) you don't expect to be blown away, just entertained and maybe moved.  And you might just get some ideas for the next time you serve finger-foods.