In Tyler Cornack’s Mermaid, a lonely Florida man, Doug (Johnny Pemberton), finds a wounded mermaid. Feeling instantly protective of her, Doug begins nursing her back to health, but after his secret guest is uncovered by the locals, Doug will stop at nothing to ensure her protection.
As Mermaid opens the message “A love letter to Florida” appears on the screen announcing that Tyler Cornack’s latest film is dedicated to the US state. The internet is flooded with news about weird and wacky events occurring in the state, which are often accompanied by the headline ‘Florida man…’, and so the premise of Mermaid doesn’t feel too out of place. The story may sound a little far-fetched, but this is from the filmmaker behind Butt Boy. As such, viewers familiar with Cornack’s older work will have certain expectations about Mermaid, but this film is more restrained. This is a far slower burn, and the surreal elements are kept into the background, which may disappoint some.
A key difference to some of Cornack’s older work is that Mermaid has some more familiar faces within the cast. As the director’s budget has increased, he has chosen to spend some of that extra cash on recognisable names, with Tom Arnold and Robert Patrick forming pivotal roles. Their inclusion elevates the project and will likely see a wider audience stumble across Cornack’s weirdness. The duo inject more than mere star power though with both of them portraying pretty reprehensible characters. Patrick has made a career playing villains and his Florida yokel is a great addition to his repertoire.
The mermaid, which Doug names Destiny, has an interesting design. Almost every iteration of the onscreen mermaid looks a certain way. Historically, the appearance is almost always a creature whose top half is a breathtakingly beautiful woman with long flowing hair, with the bottom section featuring a shimmery scaly tail. Cornack’s mermaid subverts this by being more grotesque in construction. Gone is the nubile female; replaced by an equally fishy and scaly top section. The result is visually striking and helps set the tone of the piece. That Destiny isn’t afforded a voice is also an interesting move. Rather than speak for herself, Doug puts words into her mouth, projecting his own thoughts and opinions onto her. The move makes an interesting commentary about the lack of control and autonomy that women have over their own bodies.
Although Mermaid has a fantastic premise, the execution doesn’t fully live up to it. Instead of going for it in the way that he has previously, Cornack’s latest is a little too restrained and the overall result is a tad undercooked. This isn’t to say that everything that Cornack does should be OTT and zany, but rather that Mermaid somewhat squanders its titular creature. The film focuses more closely on Doug and his story – slacker, deadbeat dad, downtrodden loner – it’s one that has been told countless times before and subsequently dulls the sparkle.
Mermaid
Summary
A demented variant of Splash, Mermaid has a killer hook, but sadly lacks the umph and spice audiences have come to expect from Cornack.
Mermaid was reviewed at SXSW 2025.
