THE MERMAID

Stephen Chow’s impressive talent for incorporating absurd humor and even more absurd slapstick into mainstream conventions, has already earned him two international hits, namely “Shaolin Soccer“ and “Kung Fu Hustle”. In his fantasy genre waking dream “The Mermaid” he transposes acute ecological disasters, especially those concerning China and Hong Kong, into the skeleton of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales. After the filthy rich business man Liu Xuan has destroyed the underwater ecosystem with a sonar, a collective of mermaids and mermen led by a humanoid octopus declare war on him. The beautiful Shan is supposed to first seduce the playboy and then kill him. A good plan that turns out to be quite a challenge after the two fall in love. When Stephen Chow, who’s a brilliant comedian himself, embarks on his comedy routines, he leaves no stone unturned: The scene where Shan is trying to kill her victim by pelting her target with poisonous sea cucumbers is unforgettable, and it’s more than disconcerting when the implacable octopus accidentally puts his tentacle on the chef’s grill and has to watch it being cut into bite-sized pieces. “The Mermaid” is a full to the brim, crazy to entertain cabinet of wonders, that doesn’t derail despite its high speed. A blockbuster so entertainingly odd that Hollywood can only dream of it.