"Beyond the Sea"

"Beyond the Sea" is the biopic following Bobby Darin, perhaps most well known to the general public for his song "Splish Splash." This movie came out in the midst of other musical biopics such as "Ray" and "Walk the Line," but with far less notoriety, and I think for good reason. I'm no musicphile, but I'm more aware of who Ray Charles and Johnny Cash are than I am of who Bobby Darin is. But whilst watching the movie, I am definitely aware of some of the songs he sang. I feel the only reason this movie was made is because it was a pet projet of Kevin Spacey who starred in and directed it, also taking writing credit as well. Whilst the writing was fine, the direction often seemed like that of a first-timer (despite this being Spacey's second time). It was as if they were one-shot wonders, "getting" the perfect shot the first time and moving on. This lead to either over-acting or wooden boxes talking on screen. Kevin Spacey as Bobby Darin was pretty good, though not as memorable as Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles or Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, but his singing was quite good. The biggest problem with Kevin Spacey as Bobby Darin is his age. Bobby Darin died when he was 37, Kevin Spacey was 45 when he played Bobby Darin. He always looked older than he should have been, and I don't think they ever mentioned his age in the movie as if to not draw attention to it. Outside of that, Kevin Spacey was quite enjoyable and was able to effectively mimic Darin's mannerisms in performing (or so I learned from watching some videos of the real Bobby Darin after watching this movie). One of the positive aspects of the movie was the use of a fantasy type tool, Spacey's Darin having discussions with his younger self throughout the movie, in which you don't realize how under-utilized it was until the end when the young actor shows his singing and dancing skills in a duet with Kevin Spacey which was fabulous. Overall this movie was fine and enjoyable, just not as memorable as it's contemporary musical biopics.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363473/