Review of Love & Mercy (2015) by Keith M — 26 Jun 2015

This is certainly a film that Beach Boys fans will want to see. I'm a fan, so I may be biased... the roles are well played. The editing is quirky. Melinda, the woman who eventually marries Brian Wilson (after his divorce and following conservatorship by his therapist); is the hero of the movie; rescuing Wilson from his "evil captor", the therapist played by Paul Giamatti.

Giamatti plays his role intensely, maybe too much so; but it allows the audience to identify him as the antagonist. Paul Dano does a fine job of playing the younger Brian Wilson in all of his moods and possessions, and John Cusack (haven't seen him in any films for awhile) performs convincingly as the emotionally tortured Brian Wilson in his later years.