Ron Howard directs Tom Hanks, Daryl Hannah and John Candy in this romantic comedy about a man who falls for a mermaid who only has a week on land to hit Manhattan and spend time with her curly haired beau. 

A 1984 doubler. Two brilliant New York location movies in a row. Two Daryl Hannah movies in a row. In Pope of Greenwich Village she is literally background soft furnishings / a “beard” but in Splash she gets centre stage. And she absolutely rocks it. Ethereal and convincing. I just googled the origins of the phrase ‘fish out of water’ hoping Splash would be the birth date and it turns out it was actually coined for the film Crocodile Dundee three years later… Not really, it is in Chaucer allegedly, but wouldn’t it be fantastic if ‘fish out of water’ did spring out the 1980s genre that profited from it. Why don’t we get ‘fish out of water’ movies anymore? Probably wouldn’t be PC. Blooming progressive, polite, sympathetic society. I don’t know. Lost genre. Bring it back. I want to see a North Korean housewife hit Disneyland. Or a tough Maryland homicide detective solve a crime on a Bollywood set. Does Splash work? Moment by moment it is syrupy and funny. But bizarrely Tom Hanks gets neutered by a role defined by plot machinations. He goes from loveable foil to out and out prick once Hannah’s aquatic secret is revealed. It is all to create unnecessary obstacles for the big resolutions to feel like a victory. But it takes the magic out of the modern fairytale, and sucks the chemistry out of Hanks inherent charm. A shame as in the first hour, Splash is a sweet treat.

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