Love & Mercy

Starring: Paul Dano, John Cusack, Elizabeth Banks, Paul Giamatti, Jake Abel, Kenny Wormald, Brett Davern, Graham Rogers, Erin Darke, Joanna Going, Bill Camp, Nick Gehlfuss
Directed by: Bill Pohlad
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama
2015

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Follows The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson, both in the formative years of the band and years later, as he struggles with mental illness.

Review:

Tim: Love & Mercy is an unconventional biopic of The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson, a film that received great critical praise. As I love John Cusack, I was looking forward to this film. Unfortunately, I didn't see what the critics saw. The film was okay, but it never drew me in or gave me a reason to invest in the characters. As a result, this 2 hour movie felt overly long and impenetrable. I watched from the outside, never able to bury myself into what was happening on screen. I wanted to like this movie, but I left scratching my head.

I will say that I love the approach the movie took. This is absolutely not a straightforward biopic, and it's not really about The Beach Boys. It's about Brian Wilson. I like that the film made that distinction. We see two different time periods- one, of his younger days with The Beach Boys, as he starts experiencing early signs of the mental illness that will wreck his life for decades. The other time period is a much older Brian Wilson, who is being manipulated by his therapist. I found both time periods fairly interesting, although they didn't always work well together. To really perfect this movie, there needed to be a more seamless integration between the younger and older Brians. They hit the mark on occasion, but on others, it feels a little disjointed. Still, I liked that the movie focused on two distinct periods, rather than trying to tell his whole life story.

One complaint I have is one that I read the real Brian Wilson made (although he was very positive about the movie as a whole)- the film focuses so much on the dark aspects of his life. Now, there were many of these, no doubt, but the film is kind of a bummer. It needed a little more levity, as it plays as a bit of a depressing tragedy for most of the film. I'm certainly not suggesting the movie ignore the troubling aspects of Wilson's life, as those deserve to be front and center. However, I can't imagine it was all bad, and it would have been nice to see a more well rounded approach. I do have to give the film credit for trying very, very hard to be factually accurate. I really appreciated that aspect of the film.

The cast is good. I struggled a little with how different Paul Dano and John Cusack look, but I get it. Dano mostly did a very good job as the younger Brian. There were a few moments here and there where it just felt like he was acting, but for the most part, he was believable and strong in the role. Cusack never quite felt comfortable in the part. I didn't believe some of his blinking, less coherent moments. It pains me to say that, but it's true. Now, Cusack does well in other scenes, where he's able to connect some with the audience. I wanted to like Cusack's performance more than I did. Elizabeth Banks gives one of the best performances of the film. She seemed natural and believable throughout the film. I was impressed with her from start to finish. Paul Giamatti has some great moments, but he also has some moments where it felt like he was overacting. As a whole, the cast is good, although each have some ups-and-downs.

There were a lot of strong pieces in Love & Mercy, but director Bill Pohlad doesn't quite know what to do with them. This might be due to the fact that this was only his second directorial effort (and the first in 24 years). I don't know much about him, but that relative inexperience shows. He isn't able to turn average moments into good ones, or good ones into great ones. This could have been a fantastic film, but in the hands of an inexperienced (and questionably talented) individual, this film just didn't do enough to draw me in. I couldn't claim I especially enjoyed the movie as a whole, although I did like specific aspects of it. In the end, I'm glad this movie got made, but I wish I could have enjoyed it more.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



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