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Beyond the Sea

Somewhere... beyond the sea... is a better screenplay for this movie.

Despite that, Kevin Spacey sings very well and there are some great little musical numbers.

Unfortunately, of all the musicals / bios of musicians that came out this year, I would rate this one the lowest, with Ray and De-Lovely ahead of it.

While the movie looks good, and Spacey sounds good, the whole thing feels bogged down by bad dialogue and the bad setup of the story.

In order to explain why Spacey, age 45, is playing Bobby Darin as a teenager and man who dies in his 30s, a story is set up of Darin playing himself in a movie about himself. When the old Bobby meets the young Bobby who will be playing him as a child, a laborious exchange begins and lasts through the whole movie. Little Bobby is very talented when he is singing and dancing - he seems to light up as soon as the music starts. Unfortunately, he isn't so great when he's just acting. Two Options: 1) Maybe he's got Star Wars Episode 2 Syndrome - a good actor stuck with a bad script, or, more likely, 2) He's got as much charisma as LIttle Anakin when he's not singing and dancing.

Besides the kid, the dialogue felt heavy and unrealistic... and when Kate Bosworth had her little crying scene on their wedding night I couldn't help but roll my eyes... and when the couple had a huge fight after the Oscars, I felt like it came out of left field and was blaring with really cheesy dialogue. I mean, Darin could have actually been that stupid, but if he had been, they could have made him express himself a little bit better for the sake of the movie audience.

Wow. This sounds like a horrible review. I actually liked the colors and dancing scenes, and every time I started to doubt the movie, another song would revive it for me.

Overall I would give it a lukewarm review and suggest maybe catching it on video.

Posted by wendytime at January 6, 2005 01:49 PM | TrackBack