Film

Splash

Name: Splash
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Fantasy
Released: 1984
Cast: Tom Hanks, Daryl Hannah, Eugene Levy, John Candy, Dody Goodman

Ron Howard's breezy 1984 charmer about a Manhattan businessman who falls for the mermaid who saved his life as a boy. Tom Hanks is easy and boyish, Daryl Hannah is luminous and odd, John Candy steals every scene he's in. It's gentle, funny, a little horny in a PG way, and never pretends to be more than a lovely fish tale.

TMDb rating

3.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy gentle, old-fashioned romantic comedy where a wildly improbable premise is played with a straight face and a lot of affection, and where the leads' chemistry carries the silliness.

Skip it if you want a sharp, cynical modern comedy, since this is soft, sentimental and dated in places, and its gags about fish-out-of-water city life can feel thin.

What it asks of you: Runs under two hours at an easy, unhurried pace, asking little beyond willing surrender to its sweetness; there are no heavy stakes to brace for.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Big1988

Tom Hanks again, same open-faced wonder, same director-adjacent 80s magic-realism, this time a boy trapped in a man's body instead of a woman trapped in fins. Just as sweet, just as funny.

But The central romance has aged into something a bit uncomfortable if you think about it too hard.

Overboard1987

Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell in a fish-out-of-water romcom with the same big dumb heart, the same amnesia-as-metaphor trick, and a similarly game supporting cast.

But The premise — a man deliberately gaslighting an amnesiac woman into loving him — plays very differently now.

Mannequin1987

Another impossible love object come to life, another New York setting, another movie that knows exactly how silly it is and leans in happily. Andrew McCarthy does earnest bewilderment well.

But Broader, cheesier, and much less interested in actual character than Splash ever was.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Splash

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid1948

Splash didn't invent this story — it's the same premise, same species, same married-man temptation, done first with 1940s restraint instead of 80s exuberance.

William Powell as a middle-aged man who hooks an actual mermaid while fishing and falls helplessly in love — this is almost literally Splash's plot, made thirty-six years earlier in gentle black-and-white studio style.

But Slower, stagier, and more interested in marital melancholy than physical comedy; it's a museum piece, charmingly so.

Enchanted2007

A fairy-tale creature adrift in Manhattan, baffled by modern life, falling for an ordinary guy — the Splash formula filtered through Disney sincerity and a genuinely great Amy Adams performance.

But Aimed squarely at families; the edges Splash has are sanded completely off.

13 Going on 302004

Same body-swap-adjacent wonder and fish-out-of-water comedy, this time about age instead of species, with Jennifer Garner doing career-best physical comedy.

But More concerned with 2000s girlboss wish-fulfillment than with the strange melancholy Splash occasionally taps into.

Blast from the Past1999

Brendan Fraser as an innocent emerging into a modern city he doesn't understand, falling for a woman who has to teach him how the world works now. Sweeter than it sounds.

But The Cold War bunker premise is a much bigger swing than a mermaid, and some find it more contrived.

My Stepmother Is an Alien1988

Swap mermaid for extraterrestrial and you've basically got the same movie: a fantastical woman learning to be human, falling for the ordinary man who loves her anyway.

But Kim Basinger's alien is broader and dumber than Daryl Hannah's mermaid, and the jokes land less often.

Aquamarine2006

If you specifically want more mermaid, this is the most direct descendant — two teenage girls, a beach town, and a mermaid trying to prove love exists before her time runs out.

But Strictly a teen movie; the comedy and romance are both pitched about fifteen years younger than Splash's.

The Little Mermaid1989

The animated version of exactly this myth, arriving five years after Splash and clearly breathing some of its air. Ariel's longing for the human world mirrors Madison's in miniature, sung beautifully.

But It's a very different, much younger audience, and you probably already know it beat for beat.

The Lure2015

Same myth — a mermaid falling for a human man — pushed into horror and body-horror sexuality instead of comedy. It asks what happens if the fairy tale doesn't soften the creature at all.

A Polish horror-musical about two mermaid sisters who join a nightclub band and start eating the men who fall for them — genuinely unlike anything else on this list, gorgeous and unsettling in equal measure.

But Subtitled, sexually explicit, and violent; this is Splash's premise with the sweetness surgically removed.

Ponyo2008

Strips the same falling-in-love-with-a-sea-creature story down to its emotional core, swapping adult courtship for a child's wide-eyed devotion, and comedy for wonder.

Miyazaki's animated tale of a fish-girl who wants to become human for the boy she loves, told with the tenderness and hand-drawn wonder only Studio Ghibli manages. It's rapturous to look at.

But Aimed at young children and paced accordingly; there's no romantic-comedy plotting here, just pure feeling.