one of my absolute favorites!

Just perfect...

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I really appreciated what Spacey was trying to accomplish here, and without using the word "daring" I believe he got the sense of the man somewhat. Very vague at points and sometimes, inappropriately comically dark, this is a movie made if Bobby Darin ever got a chance to direct.I enjoyed the movie a great deal. The last half, seems a bit labored. And frankly not as fun as the front half. Which is unpleasant and unfortunately by hanging to the truth, we have to let go with the downside. Bosworth's Sandra Dee disappears towards the end of the movie. It seems that the focus is on Darin but then shifts to their relationship only to be reminded that she was part of it. She seemed a bit cardboard for my taste. And they glossed over some darkness in her past.I went away not really learning anything new, I didn't already know about the guy. It'd be interesting if it were a fictional character. I think, since Darin was a celebrity, this may've handicapped Spacey in that aspect. I honestly believed this could've been a crushing home run, had it just stepped a little further over the edge. All-in-all sweet and worth the time.

Kevin Spacey's heart is always in the right place in Beyond the Sea being both behind the camera and in front of it, profiling the life of the singer Bobby Darin. However, it is Spacey Luke Colick's screenplay where the heart becomes a bit too consumed with comedic instances and biopic clichés rather than illustrating the believable or, better yet, the truth. The film is a crowdpleasing piece of entertainment all around, though, with the ability to mesmerize, delight, encourage singing, and maybe even move the audience to cut loose. Rarely do biopics themselves possess the same traits as the person they are profiling.Bobby Darin always seems to find himself a bit lost in the shuffle when one regards the classic music of the fifties and sixties, sandwiched between the classic rock band and the swooning country singers of the time. However, Darin did enjoy a wide variety of success from movie hits to, of course, several albums and singles before he died at a young thirty-seven years old. The film profiles everything, from his troubled childhood where a vicious illness left him bed-ridden with little optimism for a more stable life, to his more adult, anti-war persona he adopted during the Vietnam was. Also chronicled are numerous moments of arrogance on Darin's part, a rocky marriage with actress Sandra Dee (Kate Bosworth), and many tremendous singing performances by Spacey himself.Spacey embodies Darin, showing him as both a constantly-anxious, creative singer and an often selfish man trying to assume all possible roles in his life in a micromanaging fashion. It's unsurprising to note how well Spacey captures the range of Darin's character with great fluidity and fun but sort of surprising at how marvelous and enchanting Spacey's singing voice is. Easily the hardest part for actors when assuming the role of a classic singer is trying to at least come close to reaching the power his singing-voice had. Joaquin Phoenix did it with Johnny Cash in Walk the Line and Jamie Foxx did it with Ray Charles in Ray (both released in 2004, the same year as Beyond the Sea). And now, Spacey does it with Darin, in a performance more memorable than many instances in the film.Spacey's best singing scene comes late in the film, after Darin has adopted the anti-war attitude in the wake of Vietnam, and sings "Simple Song of Freedom" to a packed house. The song is poetic as it illustrates popular opinion during the Vietnam war, with Spacey delivering hard-hitting lines like, "let it fill the air, tell the people everywhere - we the people here don't want a war." Of course, Darin's other hits are covered throughout the film, such as "Splish Splash" and "That's All," but Spacey truly embodies "Simple Song of Freedom" with vocal precision and the power to engross even the most hardened listener.One of the few things that slow down Beyond the Sea is its intrusive comedy during scenes where it would've been better if Spacey and Colick's script allowed for simply drama to take over. Consider the scene where Bobby has just lost the Oscar at the Academy Awards and is fiercely screaming at Sandra, his long-suffering wife. The scene sort of evolves from a depressing and verbally violent scene to a slightly comedic scene based on Spacey's over-the-top approach to the material at hand. In addition, it's kind of disheartening to see another biopic that feels the need to tack on cheesy and plastic framework for its story by having a young kid challenging Bobby Darin's posse at the beginning of the film that he indeed knows Darin better than all of them.Beyond the Sea still serves as solid biopic fare solely because it does respect to its figure and features some of the most delightful singing this side of musical biographies as well. Spacey and the entire cast work well as a whole, and some anthems are undeniably powerful. There are several leagues when it comes to biopics, from Walk the Line to The Iron Lady and, in this case, Beyond the Sea makes up a league closer to the first-mentioned film.Starring: Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Bob Hoskins, and John Goodman. Directed by: Kevin Spacey.

When I was entering my teenage years, the Beatles were hitting the U.S. at around the same time. I didn't connect with Bobby Darin's music back then, even though 'Mack the Knife' had a ubiquitous presence on Top 40 radio, even after it's release in 1959. Today, 'Beyond the Sea' stands as one of my all time favorite tunes, and listening to Bobby Darin singing his hit songs again is almost like hearing them for the first time. Director and star Kevin Spacey takes a unique approach in presenting the life of Bobby Darin on the big screen, and to a large extent he's successful. I too had my doubts about Spacey's age in some of the early career sequences, but they were largely dispelled by the creative way Spacey draws attention to that fact early on, using his youthful alter-ego (William Ullrich) to counter point the elder Darin's paranoid tendencies. What the film probably does best is impart Darin's sense of urgency in establishing his legacy, knowing that his rheumatic heart condition meant living on borrowed time. Yes, there's a rushed feel to the romancing of Sandra Dee (Kate Bosworth) and the overview of Darin's rise to the top of his profession, but there's only so much you can do in a film. When it was over, you couldn't have convinced me that it was two and a half hours long. Punctuated by most of Darin's hit songs, the only one I was left wanting for was 'Eighteen Yellow Roses', especially after that tease during the night club scene when the camera panned by a couple of vases drawing almost subliminal attention to it. But a small price to pay over all. I enjoyed the film and now have a firmer appreciation of the price Bobby Darin had to pay for his career success. It's a film I'd recommend and will likely watch over again.

This film is the biopic of the life of Bobby Darrin.The film looks like a play or certainly comes across like that,when I was watching it.The film stars Bobby Darrin,directed by Kevin Spacey so you can admire him or not,depending on your point of viewed the film.The story is told using a younger Bobby Darrin acting as a guide to the older bobby,in my opinion not a very wise move.The movie seems remarkably old fashioned,with music and dance numbers all over the place.The music is good to listen to,particularly the night club sequences.Kevin Spacey is far too old for the main role,however he does his best,given good support from John Goodman and Bob Hoskins.Bobby Darrin never seemed that bigger star to me,to deserve a bio pic.The film covers the early part of his career very well,then his career stalls,and Bobby comes back as a protest singer,eventually accepted by the public at the height of the Vietnam war.Bobbys domestic life is well covered,his marriage was rocky at times but they seem to stick together.A film that fails top deliver as whole,but has the good odd moment in short a film for Bobby Darrins fans only.