Love and Mercy is a 2015 biopic directed by Bill Pohlad and starring Paul Dano and John Cusack as Brian Wilson. It is a very factual film about The Beach Boys and especially Brian Wilson.
This is a somewhat tedious film which is the biggest reason why I disliked it along with its uninspired direction and especially story and approach. It is a basic biopic that never rises above the formula and above the rest of the biographical films. It has two subplots, the one set in the 1960s about the young Wilson and his singing and the one set in the 1980s about the older singer and it deals with his relationship and his mental issues. Yes, it is evident that the second subplot is much better than the first which is just boring and tired, but even that second story is very problematic mainly because it never makes bigger use of its promising storyline and is undone by its too villainous doctor character.
Yes, he is the character that is so over-the-top and played so theatrically by Paul Giamatti that it ruins the whole film. The protagonist is boring in the first subplot, but the second is more interesting and he is the biggest reason to see this film. The love interest is also solidly developed, but still very one-note. And the rest are just boring and very underdeveloped.
It is a film that is an okay film when drama is concerned but it is a terrible biography and it is terrible in its music centered story which is just boring. It is very flatly directed and is poorly paced. It is also very overrated as I cannot understand both its appeal and its regard when critical opinion is concerned. I just didn’t get it which is why I rate it quite poorly. It is an overlong film that is solidly shot, but very choppily edited and although some of the acting and some of the script plots are solid, the rest are just tired, plain boring and most importantly forgettable and never rising above the formula or the genre trappings.
I also dislike this kind of music which is another reason why I found Love and Mercy boring. They never convinced me otherwise and the parts with the music are the film’s worst sequences, so uninspired and cliched. The dialogue is also nothing memorable and the score is the same.
Love and Mercy is an incredibly boring and above all uninspired and flat, forgettable film. It has some solid acting and one of the subplots is mildly amusing, but the rest are just boring scenes of typical biopic stuff, never rising above the formula and above its genre trappings. It is an one of the most overrated movies of this respectable year.
