Written by Robert Scucci | Published
Have you ever watched one of those movies that forces you to sit still, shudder violently, and resume your life as if you weren’t deeply disturbed by the story you just saw unfold? This is how I felt after watching 2025 A mermaidbeginning with Tom Arnold being killed off-screen by a monstrous creature that boarded his character’s boat, before declaring that the film is “a love letter to Florida.”
My in-laws all live in Florida, and I always get sent those crazy “Florida Man” articles as a way to keep the conversation going. With that context in mind, this is the most Florida thing I’ve ever seen. On the surface, it’s a story about an unemployed fish tank cleaner who finds an injured mermaid (after killing Tom Arnold, who hasn’t been seen or heard from since the film), intending to nurse her back to health before letting her go back into the wild.
Beneath those murky, chummy waters, however, lies a much deeper story about addiction, purpose, and trying to find connection in a world more distant than ever. A mermaid it’s also ridiculous and features some of the most disgusting creature designs I’ve ever seen, making the whole thing feel like a waking nightmare.
If you’re from Florida, you might want to give A mermaid A walk is just a joke. But you really don’t need much context beyond the description above to know you’re about to enter a world that doesn’t seem real at first, but hits uncomfortably close to home when you’ve watched someone close to you lose their addiction.
Not Average Ariel
A mermaid focuses on our very lovable but completely derivative Doug, who makes honest but organic cleaning fish tanks. When we first meet him, he’s fired from his job at a strip club because, according to his boss, no one comes to the big fish tank. We learn how lonely and lonely Doug is when he visits his daughter Layla (Devyn McDowell). He tries to connect with her on a more serious level, but he would rather go home and spend time with his mother, Tina (Julia Valentine Larson), and stepfather, Keith (Kevin Nealon).
Besides his dysfunctional family life, Doug is hopelessly addicted to various substances. If he’s not drinking, he’s popping pills, and if he’s not popping pills, he’s probably broke, which angers his late father’s friend and former local drug dealer, Ron Bocca (Robert Patrick) and his son, Gator (Tyler Rice), who doubles as his bodyguard. Doug owes Ron a ton of money, and the latter is willing to let him slide given how long they’ve known each other, but their relationship has reached a boiling point. Before long, the father and son are threatening and yelling at him.
Which brings us to our titular creature, the mermaid portrayed by Avery Potemri. While wandering around the marina and thinking about killing himself one day, Doug finds the boat from the beginning of the film and decides to take the creature in and take care of it and bring it back to life. This mermaid is the most disgusting thing I have ever seen in my life, and it is full of nightmares indeed. It is also suggested that the mermaid is a predator, and if it was actually healthy, it would have no problem clawing out a human’s throat without hesitation if it felt threatened or hungry.
Doug, in his infinite wisdom, decides to let her stay at his house, but it’s not even out of some weird, twisted love interest or anything like that. He really cares about the fish, and this woman is nothing. He allows her to live in her bathtub and feeds her copious amounts of drugs (usually crushed into Spaghettios) so that she can recover properly and, hopefully, not kill her in the process. As you’d expect, the experience of Doug’s already broken family takes a turn, and the story continues to escalate when Ron realizes that he may be exploiting the broadcaster for financial gain, which would bring him back together with Doug.
I Wasn’t Expecting To Get This Emotional
In his mind, A mermaid a dark comedy about watching someone lose their addiction. Doug is a nice guy, but he’s also weird. He deals with his discomfort by taking whatever drugs he can get his hands on, and I don’t think there’s a single moment in this movie where he’s in an altered state or descending into another. When he decides to take out the referee on his daughter’s birthday, it causes a scene, to say the least, prompting Tina, Keith, and Layla to show up at his place to intervene.
There were several moments during the film where I really wondered if the mermaid was real or just Doug’s imagination, but since this is not a psychological thriller, and that would be a cop out, it was made clear that we are dealing with a real mermaid. Many people in this world simply refuse to believe that it is real, even when it is presented openly.
While you definitely have to be concerned that the creature is going to eat someone face-to-face, the truly terrifying thing about Doug’s relationship with the creature is how much it needs him. Not a romantic interest, though, but a platonic one, as far as I can tell. The man is so lonely that she’s the only living thing he can relate to, even if he spends a lot of time drugging her and stitching up any injuries he received before they meet. In my mind, he feels like he’s lost his daughter, and this is his only way to be a caring father and feel appreciated for it.
The intervening scene, where Layla reads him a poem about how she’s afraid of losing her father, is truly haunting and makes this whole weird movie tug at your heartstrings. But don’t worry, because from then on, A mermaid it goes full steam ahead in Florida and delivers one of the weirdest endings I’ve seen in a long time. At least, I will think about this for a while.
A mermaid it’s not an easy watch, and it’s not currently available with any regular streaming subscription. Now available on demand through Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, and Fandango Home.
