‘Mermaid’ Review: Florida Man Attacks Locals, Claims to ‘Save’ Aquatic Creature in Mopey Monster Movie

variety.com:

J. Kim Murphy It’s not ripped from the headlines, but Tyler Cornack’s comedy “Mermaid” certainly seems inspired by them — specifically, the strange “Florida Man” news stories that have become a meme-friendly internet fixation.

In the midst of a “Jaws” parody opening centered on a monstrous murder at sea, the film takes a pause for a title card labeling the story as “a love letter to Florida.” But the drug-addled shenanigans that follow strive for more than gawking spectacle.

Though assembled from zany fixtures, like a strip club-based mafia and a man-eating fish creature, Cornack’s filmmaking is defined by a disarming soulfulness, marinading in the melancholy of its slacker hero.

It makes for a punishing, self-imposed mood of aggrievement, which seems alien and uninformed by the film’s genre-fawning endgame.