Love & Mercy

Filmmaker Bill Pohlad's eclectic, unconventional biopic of Brian Wilson, co-founder of the Beach Boys, features two stars playing Wilson. Paul Dano is the younger California singer-songwriter—a troubled solitary genius who churned out pop teen hits such as “Surfin' USA,” “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “I Get Around,” and “Good Vibrations” in the 1960s, while also engaging in pharmaceutical experimentation and battling his abusive father/onetime manager (Bill Camp). John Cusack costars as an older Wilson, a despondent, lethargic, over-medicated adult in the 1980s, who buys a Cadillac from beautiful blonde ex-model/saleswoman Melinda Ledbetter (Elizabeth Banks), his wife-to-be. To her chagrin, Melinda discovers that Wilson's life was being literally manipulated and controlled by his creepy, tyrannical therapist/legal guardian (Paul Giamatti). Studded with heavy-handed metaphors, the timeline jumps back and forth, which is jarring since the two actors playing Wilson don't resemble one another. The most memorable scenes here capture Wilson's artistic process, such as obsessively working on 1966's kaleidoscopic Pet Sounds album in experimental recording sessions with Wrecking Crew musicians. It's obvious from the closing credits that this discordant, deferentially sanitized project was made with the complete cooperation of Brian and Melinda Wilson. A strong optional purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director Bill Pohlad and co-writer Oren Moverman, the behind-the-scenes featurettes “A Side/B Side: Portraying the Life of Brian Wilson” (26 min.) and “A California Story: Creating the Look” (11 min.), deleted scenes (8 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a bonus UltraViolet copy of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for an uneven portrait of the musical artist.] (S. Granger)