Review of Love & Mercy (2015) by Matt C — 05 Jun 2015

This movie's trailer doesn't do this movie justice at all. It makes it look like a slightly less-awful Jersey Boys, but it's so much better than that. I was kind of shocked at how much this deviates from the standard music-based biopic.

With the two parallel storylines that show the '60s and '80s that showcase Paul Dano and John Cusack, respectively, this finds a lot of new ways to tell a story that is just begging to seem familiar.

The performances are all terrific, and the pacing is almost hypnotic. It may not have moved me to tears, but this movie is still helped by its cast and dreamlike use of sound. This movie tries a lot of things differently, and it sticks the landings.

It's so nice to see a movie based on someone's life that isn't just "this happened and then this happened and then this happened and then this happened." It switches between Paul Dano-age Brian Wilson and John Cusack-age Brian Wilson, but it never feels disjointed or confusing.

It only helps the narrative, reflecting the mindset of the character and keeping it more interesting by changing the settings and actors every twenty minutes or so. All of the switches in the narrative feel natural thanks to the similar performances between Dano and Cusack, the latter of who really does a great job depicting the devolution of his character's mental state.

The direction is almost dreamlike--and, to a lesser extent but just as understandably, hallucinatory--and it really helps keep interest for its entire two-hour runtime. There were scenes where I felt numb, and that was intended, but I was never bored.

Its use of overlapping sound is anxious in nature and also helps combine two scenes into one, saving time and helping characterization. As I said earlier, Dano and Cusack are both great, but another surprise here in Elizabeth Banks.

I love her, but she's never really demonstrated any real dramatic talent before (except for in People Like Us, but that movie didn't do much of anything). She's so so so good here, though, I'd love to see her do more dramatic work in the future.

She isn't manic and outwardly worried or hopeless; she's in control and her emotions are mostly restricted to her face instead of dialogue. She also acts as a great foil to Paul Giamatti's character, who I actually wish that they focused more on.

He does a very good job, but he isn't given a ton to work with in terms of motives or background. He's just a sleezebag. A very good sleezebag, but a sleezebag without a great amount of history.

In the end, though, Love & Mercy far outperformed my expectations, and its uniqueness in filmmaking not only made for more to appreciate, but also made the overall film more watchable and interesting.

It could have provoked more of an emotional reaction from me and I wish that Giamatti's character was better developed, but otherwise, this is impressive work. 8.3/10, great, one thumb up, definitely above average, etc.