If you could pick any woman on earth to be your mother, you might not choose Cher--or rather, Mrs. Flax, the Cher-like nomad the actress portrays in this engaging serios comedy set during the turbulent sixties. Bossy, bawdy, and flamboyantly single, the mercurial mom up roots her daughters at the drop of a paramour or the shift of a mood and motorsoff to a new town.

Not that either of her sprigs is the embodiment of normal. Fifteen-year-old Charlotte, played with provocative innocence by Winona Ryder, prays to offbeat Catholic saints and presumably yearns to becomethe first Jewish blessed virgin, an ambition seriously at odds with herbubbling sexuality. Nine-year-old Kate (the wonderful Christina Ricci)is consumed by a more modest goal: She plans to swim the English Channel, which explains her addiction to the family tub, where in she can be found fully submerged at any hour of the day or night.

The trauma-littered journey of this plucky trio to a genuine understanding of their complex relationship is the subject of the contrived but disarming screenplay adapted by June Roberts from PattyDann's novel. Although it could be argued that Cher performed similarmaternal tricks with greater plausibility in Mask, the impact of herfiery intelligence and humor cannot be denied. With a big boost from director Richard Benjamin, the super sister act of Ryder and Ricci, Bob Hoskins as an amorous shoe-store proprietor, and Michael Schoeffling as the mischievous convent caretaker who seduces a startled Winona, filmdom's favorite songbird-turned-the spian makes Mermaids well worth the dip.