Mermaids (1990) ***1/2
Somehow Mermaids (1990) escaped me when I was younger and I never got around to seeing it until now. I'm glad I did — it's charming, funny, and a very good coming of age tale.
The four leads are all excellent — Cher is perfect as the oddball single mother who doesn't want to grow up and doesn't know how to be a traditional parent, picking up and moving any time she can't face her problems. Bob Hoskins is adorably gruff as he dotes over Cher's Mrs. Flax and her two daughters. Winona Ryder shines as the teenage daughter who wants to rebel against her rebellious mother by attempting to be pious but ending up making the same mistakes as her. And Christina Ricci (in her feature debut) as the younger daughter, though not given as much screen time, is quirkily cute and showed promise right from the get go.
Having grown up in Massachusetts, I loved the locations and the autumnal colors. Having grown up the child of a cool single mother, I could relate to certain aspects of the story.
Fun fact about this film: Frank Oz was originally supposed to direct.
Fun fact about Christina Ricci: she and I share the exact same birthday (not just day, but year as well).
The four leads are all excellent — Cher is perfect as the oddball single mother who doesn't want to grow up and doesn't know how to be a traditional parent, picking up and moving any time she can't face her problems. Bob Hoskins is adorably gruff as he dotes over Cher's Mrs. Flax and her two daughters. Winona Ryder shines as the teenage daughter who wants to rebel against her rebellious mother by attempting to be pious but ending up making the same mistakes as her. And Christina Ricci (in her feature debut) as the younger daughter, though not given as much screen time, is quirkily cute and showed promise right from the get go.
Having grown up in Massachusetts, I loved the locations and the autumnal colors. Having grown up the child of a cool single mother, I could relate to certain aspects of the story.
Fun fact about this film: Frank Oz was originally supposed to direct.
Fun fact about Christina Ricci: she and I share the exact same birthday (not just day, but year as well).
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