Love & Mercy

Released in 2014 Love & Mercy is a film about musician and the co-founder of The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson. Biopics about musicians and the music industry have always been hit or miss for me, but I found this one to be entertaining.

In terms of plot, there are a lot of the story beats you'd expect in a movie like this: the ups and downs, the pressure of fame, infighting among the group, etc. However, the added aspects of struggling with both mental illness and a manipulative therapist (played by Paul Giamatti) provide extra layers to the story. With a runtime right around 2-hours, the film never really seems to drag. A lot of that is because it's structured in such a way that it's regularly shifting between a young Brian Wilson (played by Paul Dano) and a middle-aged Wilson (played by John Cusack). The parts with Dano focus more on dynamic between Wilson and the rest of The Beach Boys, whereas the Cusack scenes are about Wilson forming a romantic relationship with Melinda Ledbetter (played by Elizabeth Banks) and the therapist that wants to control him.

Overall, I give this one a soft-recommend. All of the performances are solid, and it's a well-paced film, but it's probably not one that everyone will get into.

I give it a 3 out of 5.