Really good. Much better than most biopics, due to the unconventional structure, the sharp dialogue, the sound mixing (this better get an Oscar nom), and the simply outstanding work done by Dano and Cusack.

If you're looking for something outside of the usual summer studio fare, this is a great choice.

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because a fairly significant amount of Dano's screen time involves him writing and recording Pet Sounds and parts of what would have been SMiLE, including "Good Vibrations." I found all of those scenes to be extremely watchable.

With that said, I thought that it had an almost excessive reverence for Brian Wilson, which I guess isn't uncommon for biopics but it was still a little overboard in places. (For example, there's a title card at the end saying something like 'Pet Sounds is now regarded as one of the best albums of all time and Wilson has finally claimed his place in history as one of the true geniuses of pop music.') There are snatches of dialog like "Paul McCartney said 'God Only Knows' is the greatest song ever written!" and scenes of musicians from The Wrecking Crew telling Wilson how much of a genius he is ("Phil Spector's got NOTHING on you, kid").

The other byproduct of that is that the malevolent doctor/guardian character played by Paul Giamatti is very one-dimensional as the villain.

But, overall I agree with Frank that Dano and Cusasck are both really good and the music scenes are great. If you don't catch it in theaters, definitely worth a watch when it gets to Netflix/HBO.

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>(For
>example, there's a title card at the end saying something like
>'Pet Sounds is now regarded as one of the best albums of all
>time and Wilson has finally claimed his place in history as
>one of the true geniuses of pop music.') There are snatches of
>dialog like "Paul McCartney said 'God Only Knows' is the
>greatest song ever written!" and scenes of musicians from The
>Wrecking Crew telling Wilson how much of a genius he is ("Phil
>Spector's got NOTHING on you, kid").

Macca really did say that and the conversation with Hal Blaine (WC drummer) actually occurred as depicted, confirmed by Blaine himself

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

Saw this the other night and found it excellent; Dano especially killed it.

I think the one writer (Overman, I believe) took the structure of his Dylan pic, I'm Not There, and improved on it and made it lucid for the average viewer, but still provided these great reflections of two distinct periods in Brian Wilson's life. It bypassed the cradle to the grave cliche, and it worked well in my opinion.

I also found it interesting that during Dr. Eugene Landy's tenure, Wilson released his first solo album featuring the song from which the film's title derives. Throughout his life (though not exclusively) the guy was pressured/bullied into making brilliant music, first by his father, then this controversial doctor.

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"Every Golden Age is as much an act of disregard as it is of felicity."

And the actors were somehow able to reproduce the playfulness and cohesion of the band in studio

So good.

Cusack's tardive dyskinesia was spot on too.

So fucking good.

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE