In multiphase flows thin films are often encountered when fluid masses collide. These films can become very thin and in direct numerical simulations (DNS) it is often impractical to resolve their thickness fully, even with adaptive grid refining. Here we examine the collision of a fluid drop with a wall and develop a multiscale approach to compute the flow in the film between the drop and the wall. By using a semi-analytical model for the flow in the film we capture the evolution of films thinner than the grid spacing reasonably well. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.