THE LAST DETAIL (1973) AND MERMAIDS (1990)
Back in the day when VHS cassettes ruled, my mom decided she had to catch up on some old films. She asked me for a recommendation. Without assessing her Jitterbug demographic, The Last Detail came up.
So my mother, trusting her only son, rented it at the local shop. A few weeks later, her review was in: “Funny,” she said, “but the language was very blue.” In fact, the Jack Nicholson film about the Shore Patrol’s rude, lewd and beyond crude. I forgot. Later, I did recommend Mermaids, starring Cher playing a nonconformist single parent with two engaging daughters defined by a young Winona Ryder and a very young Christina Ricci in her first movie role. Credibility was, however briefly, restored. Now, she tries to watch Mermaids every Mother’s Day.