MOVIE BLOG: SPLASH, the classic romance between a man and . . . a mermaid? · 2:26am Jan 2nd, 2018
TOUCHSTONE FILMS presents a BRIAN GRAZER production - a RON HOWARD FILM - SPLASH - Starring TOM HANKS - DARYL HANNAH - EUGENE LEVY and JOHN CANDY - Executive Producer JOHN THOMAS LENOX - Music by LEE HOLDRIDGE - Screenplay by LOWELL GANZ and BABALOO MANDEL & BRUCE JAY FRIEDMAN - Screen Story by BRUCE JAY FRIEDMAN - Produced by BRIAN GRAZER - Directed by RON HOWARD - "Love Came for Me" performed by RITA COOLIDGE - © Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
PLAY
It is axiomatic: if a man falls in love with a mythical creature in a movie, the result is bound to be a gagging spoonful of whimsy. All credit, then, to Splash for having a mermaid capable of turning her fins into shapely gams flop up on Manhattan's in salubrious shores, where a quick education in paranoia, cynicism and the perils of materialism has ever been available to out-of-towners. For from that unpromising situation emerges a romantic comedy that is as salty and bracing as a plunge in the surf. Whenever Daryl Hannah, as the sweetly shallow creature from the deep, and Tom Hanks, as the produce merchant who loves her, start to get goopy, there is a New York City street person available to assert the reality principle: Eugene Levy, splendid as a mad scientist who seems to have wandered in from a Jaws sequel, or John Candy, fine as a man who thinks Penthouse centerfolds are philosophical statements.
Before Director Ron Howard and his gargle of writers (Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel and Bruce Jay Friedman) arrange a satisfactorily romantic ending for their odd couple, they also manage to satirize everything from presidential politics to daytime television. They are a jostling, busily observant, fundamentally good-natured crew, and audiences are well advised to take a plunge on Splash.
— Richard Schickel, Time Magazine, Mar. 19, 1984.
Copyright © 1984 Time Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited
