Splash (1984) * * *

Directed by:  Ron Howard

Starring:  Tom Hanks, Daryl Hannah, John Candy, Eugene Levy, Dody Goodman, Richard B. Shull, Howard Morris

Alan Bauer (Hanks) is a successful New York grocer who is unlucky in love until he meets Madison (Hannah), who is beautiful, sweet, and perfect in nearly every way except she is a mermaid.    She has fins when in the water, but out of the water she has very shapely legs.    She saves Alan's life one day after he falls out of a boat on Cape Cod and then, after falling for him, she tracks him back to New York.    He thinks a goddess made just for him fell from the sky and into his life, but this isn't quite the case.    At first, she can't speak at all, but learns by watching television in a single afternoon, and Alan is perplexed when Madison asks for salt in her bathwater and devours a lobster, shell and all, at dinner.   But, hey, she's a babe, so such matters can be dismissed.

Splash is a sweet high-concept comedy which one would think could write itself.    Alan and Madison have chemistry and are nice people, but Splash spreads the laughs around with the supporting players, including John Candy as Alan's loyal, sex-crazed brother Freddie and Eugene Levy as Dr. Walter Kornbluth, who also encountered Madison while conducting underwater research on Cape Cod and wants to prove to the scientific world that mermaids exist.    Candy provides Freddie some depth at times you would least expect it.    After all, he once brought a date to one of his own weddings.   And Kornbluth, even after succeeding in his quest, feels some unexpected guilt at ruining Alan and Madison's happiness in the name of scientific credibility and subjecting her to heartless scientists who only want to see what makes her tick.

Splash is among Ron Howard's first films, and this is the genesis of his mostly excellent directing career.    He proved quickly to be an adept comedy director, and soon he delved into drama with equal success, culminating in a Best Director Oscar win for 2001's A Beautiful Mind.    Splash could've taken the low road and lazily went along trying to bilk laughs out of its concept, but Howard and screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel infuse some sweetness and charm into the proceedings, making as funny as romance as can be expected between a man and a half-fish.