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As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

The story centers on Brian Wilson (John Cusack/ Paul Dano) and his mental psychosis in two subplots; one in the 1980's and another in the 1960's after the group is famous. Brian had mental problems which seemed to be set around his relationship with his father (Bill Camp) and made worse by drug use. He can't travel and stays at home writing the definitive American album. After the Beatles left the stage and changed rock and roll by going to complex pieces involving studio musicians, Brian wanted to follow. His work while critically acclaimed, never sold as well as his beach music. In the 1980's he meets car saleswoman Melinda Ledbetter (Elizabeth banks) who recognizes that Gene Landy (Paul Giamatti), Brian's legal guardian, may not have Brian's best care at heart.If you are looking for a Beach Boys story, this isn't it. There are odd scenes which are used to imitate Brian's confused brain. In one scene I thought I was watching the monolith hotel room scene (2001....)Guide: implied sex and nudity. Elizabeth Banks mouths the F-bomb near the end...If my lip reading is correct.

I've been very puzzled by this movie. In the end, the central question of whether he got the blue Cadillac he comes to buy at the beginning, and which plays an essential role in the plot, is never elucidated. He never drives it, it's never delivered - actually he doesn't drive anything at all, he has a limo driving him around. So why did he come to buy a car in the first place. Somehow I feel I've seen this movie before, and it was called Rain Man.

Why oh why did they have to cast two completely different looking actors to play Brian Wilson? Talk about struggling with suspension of disbelief. The answer, you might think, is because the film covers several decades of his life. But in fact, Paul Dano is such a fine actor he could have easily pulled off the entire lifespan of this genius. No, I fear the reason is because they needed a "name" actor in order to get the film made. Nothing against John Cusack. He's a fine actor as well, and in fact he does a good job, even if he doesn't fit the part. (But then he has a history of taking on roles he doesn't fit as I mentioned in my review of The Raven.) It's such a disappointment that the casting had to ruin this film for me. Because it's a great story and the scenes (with Dano) depicting the creation of Pet Sounds and Good Vibrations in the studio are some of the best I've ever seen in a bio. Paul Giamatti is terrific and scary as the domineering, controlling shrink, something I had only vague ideas about before seeing this film. And Elizabeth Banks is great as well. I struggled with how to rate Love and Mercy because I still think it's a must see film, but I wish they had just let Paul Dano do the whole role. The filmmakers (and Dano) missed out on an Oscar nomination.

Titled after his 1988 song, this Brian Wilson biopic depicts two distinct periods in the Beach Boys front man's life: early success in the 1960s and battling psychosis in the 1980s. Events from both timelines overlap each other and in an ambitious move (that recalls 'I'm Not There'), two actors who barely look like each other another play Wilson for the two different time periods, signifying just how different a person he was in the 1980s compared to the 1960s. Well-intentioned as it may be, the technique is a little too distracting to fully work. John Cusack and Golden Globe nominated Paul Dano are both solid as the two Brian Wilsons but their very different appearances only make it all the more jarring when the film switches between them. Some of the switches feel ill-judged too as the film bounces between emotional highs and lows in both time periods. Such issues aside, 'Love & Mercy' is a technically well accomplished movie with nary a boring moment to be had. The sound design - especially accentuated audio from kitchen cutlery in a key scene - is excellent throughout, the detailed recording studio scenes are fascinating and Elizabeth Banks offers a surprisingly multi-layered performance as Wilson's girlfriend in the 1980s storyline. Her silent confrontation with Paul Giamatti towards the end displays more inner strength than words could possibly offer. The film also concludes on a pitch perfect note with the iconic 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' swelling up at just the right moment. By all accounts, the real Brian Wilson was impressed by the film too.