Fame and normalcy simply do not go hand in hand. According to biopics on the lives of famous music artists, this goes beyond the ability to live a normal life where you can go out without being recognized and where privacy is a virtual impossibility. Beyond this...many have demons in their lives that haunt them. We see this in movies such as "Ray" (2004) (Ray Charles biopic), "Walk the Line" (2005) (Johnny Cash biopic) and "What's Love Got to Do With It" (1993) (Tina Turner biopic). "Love & Desire" shows us that even the happy-go-lucky group The Beach Boys were pretty warped. On the surface the Beach Boys are this surf-pop group with fun summer songs, who guest starred on "Full House" (1988) in their later years. Little did we know that they had their fair share of turmoil. Control issues, artistic differences and even paranoid schizophrenia did not escape The Beach Boys. Biopics are tricky as far as movies go because the plot consists of the events of a person's life, so a finite beginning, middle and end is tricky to create. This movie did well in artistically capturing the craziness of the lives of The Beach Boys. One negative note in the cinematography is that certain scenes were shot as if someone was spying on the speakers with very shaky camera. It's a technique I'm seeing more and more in films and I can't stand it. Just keep the camera still! Overall, this movie was an interesting look at The Beach Boys, but a rather typical biopic.

The backwards/forwards style and pacing of this movie may put some viewers off but those who stay with it should be enthralled. To date, this is possibly one of the most accessible screen example of telling a story in dual time frames using two different performers. The life of popular musical genius Brian Wilson is quite harrowing - from a manipulative, abusive father to an opportunistic and equally abusive quack "Dr" Eugene Landy. Landy stood to gain a large (and unworthy) share of Brian's legacy - and if not for the eventual intervention of various close family and friends would have succeeded in his attempts to drug Wilson to oblivion.The studio session scenes are highly revealing for the way they demonstrate the parallels of genius and mental instability. They also highlight the respect session musicians held for the time they spent working with Wilson. It seems this venue is possibly where Glen Campbell was introduced to Wilson - before being selected to stand in for Brian during a major tour. Performances, direction, photography and music combine to convincingly tell this talented artists troubled journey up to the present. The use of live, present day, concert footage during the end credits round off a compelling movie experience. While it might mean more to Beach Boys/Wilson followers or those who lived through the early years, it offers equal benefits to any follower of modern musical development.

"Love & Mercy" thankfully avoids the pitfalls that plague most other blah biopics, eschewing the device of taking us through the troubled childhood up through the inspirational finale of whatever famous person's life happens to be the film's subject. While Brian Wilson is the main subject of the film, the movie isn't so much about him as it about his contributions to the Beach Boys' phenomenal success as a band. We don't learn his life story; we witness instead how one of the most troubled passages of his personal life coincided with one of the most fertile period for the group. However, while I was relieved that this didn't end up being a paint by numbers biopic like every other biopic put to screen, I did feel like the filmmakers didn't quite know how to fill the gap where a different movie would have inserted all of the traditional biopic material. Paul Dano and John Cusack give fine performances as the young and older, respectively, Brian Wilson, but there isn't a lot of story to tell here, certainly not enough to warrant the film's 2+ hour running time. The film is at its best when it's depicting the jam sessions during which Wilson came up with some of the Beach Boys' most iconic tunes, but the parts of the film that chronicle the tug-of-war between Wilson's girlfriend (played likeably by Elizabeth Banks) and his doctor (played loathsomely by Paul Giammati) turn into a slog, and unfortunately these make up the bulk of the movie.And it's odd that a movie about the Beach Boys would feature so little of their music.Grade: B+

Love & Mercy is the story of Brian Wilson, the creative heart and also the troubled mind of The Beach Boys and it takes place in two time streams.Paul Dano plays the younger Brian who slowly descents into madness (with the help of drugs and booze not quiet touched in the film) as he moves away from the popular west coast surf sound and into the more experimental Pet Sounds album. This portion of the film was the best as we see the recording and singing process and his interaction with the rest of the band and his stern, overpowering father who sold away his publishing rights.John Cusack is the older Wilson, his scenes are set in the 1980s when he is under the care and medications of his overpowering, manipulative and Svengali like psychotherapist, Dr Landy (Paul Giamatti.) Love, understanding and eventual escape from the clutches of Dr Landy comes from (Melinda Ledbetter) Elizabeth Banks, a Cadillac car saleswoman who went on to become his wife.The film was just too disjointed and uneven with the Cusack segments being weaker, not helped that his performance was overshadowed by Banks and Giamatti who with his wig looked scarily similar to Phil Spector.