Love & Mercy

We've seen a plethora of biopics in the past which have made great fodder for stories a seasoned screenwriter have been able to sink their teeth into. Even biopics on different musicians/singers have had their share of films as well. We've seen and enjoyed many: "Amadeus" '84, "Ray" '04, "The Sapphires" '12, "Get On Up" '14, even the recent "Danny Collins", but now we have the awaited biopic on the famed Beach Boys called "Love & Mercy".

In the 1960's, Beach Boys leader, Brian Wilson (Paul Dano) struggles with emerging psychosis as he attempts to craft his avant-garde pop masterpiece. In the 1980's, Brian (John Cusack) is a broken, confused man under the 24 hour watch of shady therapist Dr. Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti). As he was struggling immensely in the 1960's, it wasn't until the 1980's that he was finally diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic. Being at his wits end in the 1980's, he inadvertently met Melinda Ledbetter (Elizabeth Banks) while he was looking to buy a Cadillac, so she attempted to take this pour sole under her wing only to be thwarted by Dr. Landy. Thus a tug of war ensued between the two where Melinda became forced to become creative in helping Brian since no one else was able to or didn't want to.

Others to round out the cast are Jake Abel as Mike Love, Brian's cousin, Kenny Wormald as Dennis Wilson, Brian's brother, Brett Davern as Carl Wilson, Brian's other brother, Bill Camp as Murry Wilson, Brian's father, Diana Maria Riva as Gloria, Graham Rogers as Al Jardine, Erin Darke as Marilyn Wilson, Joanna Going as Audree Wilson, Max Schneider as Van Dyke Parks, Johnny Sneed as Hal Blaine, Jeff Meacham as Tony Asher, Dee Wallace as Rosemary and Jonathan Slavin as Phil Spector.

This was directed with minute detail by relative newcomer at the director's chair, Bill Pohlad ("Old Explorers" '90) plus a ton of producing. Where do these new or relatively new directors come from? And will they have staying power in a community that eats individuals for lunch due to the politics, shallowness, emptiness, and greed? One must be strong to direct since you're responsible for all aspects of that film, so this should help. Kudos to this guy for a film well paced with the ability to get his actors to emit the right emotion at the right time. Of course, with a cast that consists of Dano, Cusack, Banks and Giamatti, how could he go wrong? It was equally well written by Oren Moverman and Michael Alan Lerner. The way these seasoned writers went from the 60's to the 80's and back again more than once, would have been easy to convolute, but the consistency was solid. Now there were a couple of places where it became a bit choppy and there was some symbology nearing the end which was a little much, but all in all this was a production that sped right along and kept one on their toes from beginning to end. What was troubling was to see how much Brian suffered as much as he did. We all knew some aspects of his life, but this brought up even more detail that no one saw coming.

For the historical buffs out there, you'll be in biopic heaven, but even if a factual story isn't something that you love, the acting was so real and I learned some things I just didn't know until I plopped myself down and allowed this to play out before my eyes.

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                              Rated: PG-13                                  121mins.