The Mermaid

The highest-grossing Chinese film of all time, The Mermaid is a strange comic fantasy that mixes slapstick humor, corporate satire, and environmental messages. In this bizarre twist on The Little Mermaid, pretty but naïve mermaid Shan (Jelly Lin) is sent to assassinate flamboyant real-estate magnate Liu Xian (Deng Chao), who is killing all of the sea life in the waters around a beautiful island that he wants to turn into an upscale resort. Shan is a sweet, guileless girl who clomps around in a pair of rubber boots to hide her fins (even when clad in designer gowns), and Liu is a tasteless, womanizing egotist garbed in gauche fashions and a fake mustache. Of course they fall in love. Directed by Stephen Chow, whose wacky action comedies Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle were international smashes with successful U.S. releases, The Mermaid ping pongs between cartoonish slapstick comedy, crass sexual gags, and bizarre scenes of outlandish violence, including an octopus man who cooks his own tentacles while posing as a master sushi chef. The wild and abrupt tonal shifts may seem odd to American audiences and some of the verbal humor is surely lost in translation, but this funny, fast-moving comedy is stuffed with outrageous visual gags, big personalities, a goofy sense of humor, and an affection for its characters that all translate just fine. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)