Too much of everything

Admirable film.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

A try solidly failed. In fact, that's the strongest part of the film. The way it fails is almost as good as the way it could have succeeded.The script is like shooting a shark with a airsoft gun. It's what perfectly ruins this film. It ruins it so perfectly, it almost deserves an award at how it does it.Winona is a pretty face but has no play. Mismatched with Cher, even Hoskins has chemistry with Cher despite visible physical differences, starting with the amount of hair available.Frankly, Cher gets 4 stars out of the 5, while the nice country side autumn images get the remaining one. While in my taste Cher is not a great actor, she is skilled in front of the camera in a specific way and more importantly, she seems as entertaining (or slightly less) as she is in a concert. In this particular performance of her, she shines even more because for some reason it makes us feel this character has something in common with her personality.

Charlotte is the older sibling in a family of three. Her mom is always moving her two girls from town to town, so both Charlotte and her little sister Kate have trouble making friends. Charlotte is like any other girl her age, but there's one exception... she is obsessed with the Catholic religion and while other girls are thinking of The Beatles, Charlotte dreams of one day being a nun.One day Charlotte meets a boy and her mom meets a man, who happens to work at the local school. As events such as the J.F.K. assassination and kissing her new boyfriend Joe come up, Charlotte's life gradually stops making sense, until a horrible accident makes her family stop and think.This movie is GREAT, I've loved it since grade 5. The acting is amazing with actresses Cher (Silkwood and The Mask), Winona Ryder (Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands), and Christina Ricci (The Addam's Family Weird is Relative and Casper). The soundtrack is excellent and suits the date in question (takes place in 1963), and the plot is a fictional memoir of one of the most original characters you'll ever see. I highly recommend this movie, it's one of the best 1990's movies I've seen.

I recognised the title because of the two leading actresses and leading actor, but I was interested to know the origins of the title, and I knew it would feature the song that the singer/actress got to number one with, from director Richard Benjamin (The Money Pit, My Stepmother Is an Alien). Basically, set in 1963, fifteen year old Charlotte Flax (Golden Globe nominated Winona Ryder, who also narrates throughout) lives with her glamorous but eccentric mother Rachel who she refers as "Mrs. Flax" (Cher) and her little sister Kathryn 'Kate' (introducing nine year old Christina Ricci). The family are forced to constantly move when the mother's relationships or circumstances go wrong, they have now relocated to Eastport, Massachusetts to a small town near a convent, Charlotte is fascinated and idolises the nuns despite being reminded by Rachel that she is Jewish, while Kate loves swimming and ocean, she has won many swimming competitions. In the town, Charlotte has feelings for twenty six year old handsome convent caretaker and local school bus driver Joe Porretti (Michael Schoeffling), while Rachel has affection for local shop owner named Lou Landsky (Bob Hoskins), while remaining selfish, self obsessed and hopelessly promiscuous. Following the assassination President John F. Kennedy, Charlotte kisses Joe in the church bell tower, and being naive she wrongly assumes that she is pregnant, and she cannot talk to her mother about her fear, but later an obstetrician examining her confirms that she is still a virgin, she is relieved. At a New Year's Eve costume party Rachel dresses as a mermaid (hence the title), and Lou, dressed as a pirate, asks her to move in with him, but she refuses and they fight, and being driven home she is kissed by Joe, and watching them Charlotte thinks her promiscuous mother is trying to steal him. Later that night Charlotte takes the mermaid costume and goes with Kate to the convent with Joe, while the little sister collects rocks the older sister loses her virginity (for real), and distracted she does not realise Kate fell into the river and almost drowned, she was saved by nuns. Rachel is very angry and wants to move house to avoid embarrassment of her older daughter and Joe being talked about, but Charlotte fights her corner to avoid this, and the argument ends with the mother convinced to stay at least one year. In the end Rachel stays in the town where her relationship with Lou continues, Joe keeps in touch by postcard after moving away, Charlotte is studying her passion subject Greek myths, Kate has recovered with only some deafness, and for the first time in ages the family sit down at the table to dinner. Also starring Caroline McWilliams as Carrie, Jan Miner as Mother Superior, Betsy Townsend as Mary O'Brien, Richard McElvain as Mr. Crain and Paula Plum as Mrs. Crain. Cher is good as the oddball and out there mother, Hoskins does his accent okay and is likable, Ryder is a great surprise as the opinionated and confused girl, and Ricci is so adorable and cute with her sweet nature and attitude. The story is simple, a quirky family living the nomadic lifestyle, the love interest plots with the two women is interesting, the bickering and emotional arguments are engaging, the period of the film is convincing, and of course it is great to hear "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)" (both the Betty Everett and the number one version by Cher), it is a nice gentle, funny and light-hearted romantic comedy. Very good!

Mermaids is the story of a family of three ladies, a mother and her two daughters. Winona Ryder plays the eldest daughter who actually looks down her mother. Ryder dreams of becoming a nun so that she can live a pure and honest life. Cher is the mother, who constantly moves her family around whenever she fails at a relationship. Ryder is tested by a young man that she starts to have feelings for while Cher has difficulty adjusting to a serious relationship with Bob Hoskins. It's a fine film on all accounts as both a comedy and a romantic drama. The rift between Cher and Ryder is an easy one to understand and they both play it brilliantly. You always get the feeling that they are tired of one another, but the love is always present. Hoskins is a fantastic and surprising romantic lead. He gives off a strong dominant force, but also comes across as fragile. It's his strength that gradually repairs this family. Christina Ricci stars as the youngest daughter and it's no surprise she became a star. She manages to do young and cute without being annoying. The soundtrack helps to capture the time period very well. The pacing is often off and it feels like an edited down novel, but when it's hitting those high notes in terms of comedy or drama it is a great watch.