Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

betty dalton Knowing little about the Beach Boys music except their well known hits, I did hear about this "doctor" who had the lead singer in an isolating grip. Many years Brian Wilson, the lead singer of the popular sixties Beach Boys band, had gone off the rails. Losing it mentally, he was addicted to medicine and was isolated by his "doctor" from the outside world. It really is a heartbreaking story. And this movie "Love and Mercy" has really made an awesome tribute to the music Brian Wilson made and to the wonderful person he was."Love and Mercy" tells 2 stories at the same time. One story about the young Brian Wilson who rose to fame as a musician, and one story about the older, addicted and isolated Brian Wilson, who has gone off the rails. The combination of the 2 stories really mix very fluently. The whole movie is edited in a way a good beach boys song would sound: in total harmony. John Cusack, Paul Dano and Elizabeth Banks all act at the top of their talents.Paul Dano actually seems to sing the songs for real and his resemblance to Brian Wilson is stunning. In the end I am really impressed and in awe of this movie. What a wonderful tribute. Goosebumps all over, because the end is so emotionally uplifting. Special praise for the way the music was remixed, it sounded from another planet so spacious, intense and beautiful. Wow. I would like to add a lot of more comments but in the end it is better to just let yourself get submersed in the music. Dont forget to watch the end credits in which the real Brian Wilson makes an appearance with the song Love and Mercy. "That is all what you and your friends need tonight..." as sung by the wonderfully talented Brian Wilson.

lmabadie I enjoyed the early Beach Boys parts of the story and I wished they had been longer. Paul Dano made a great job as the young Brian Wilson and those parts of the movie were very good. I also wished there had been more of their early music and the group beginnings and rise to fame, maybe exploring better the conflict relationship with their father. The later parts of the story were not of the same level. John Cusak was a poor casting for the role of the older Brian WIlson. There is nothing likable about his character and it was difficult to see what made his future wife get attracted to him, other than his bank account. It is the victors who write the history books, or in this case they are the ones that will sell the rights to the movie and control how some character, including themselves will be depicted. Maybe I am totally wrong about this, I have no way to know, but the important thing is that this is the way the movie made me feel while watching it, that it was a struggle about who would control Brian Wilson fortunes.

marsh876 I really wanted to like this movie because I love Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys. Their music is fantastic and will live forever. Unfortunately, I didn't like this movie and I recommend that people not see it.I will admit that the acting was good, in all parts. The cinematography and costumes were very good, also. It's the story, direction and editing that, in my opinion, are terrible. The constant back and forth in time is hard to follow. It's hard to tell the time line of events. Wilson's mental illness is depicted with long, slow, boring, no action scenes, with discordant sound effects in the background.And it's hard to believe they would try and sell a biopic about a musician and play virtually none of his music. What's the matter? The Beach Boys music wasn't good enough for Pohlad's artistic sentiments? Pohlad's background noise is the "real" music? So this movie is just an ego trip of Pohlad, shamed by the great achievement of Wilson compared to his own, and putting up any garbage as better? Pleeeeze!And the 2001 homage at the end? Wasn't this movie too long already. We had to sit through that stupidity?In conclusion, this movie sucked. Go see Mickey Mouse cartoons instead. Will do more for you.

SquigglyCrunch Love & Mercy follows Brian Wilson, a member of the Beach Boys band in the past, when he struggles with being in a band and develops mental illness, and in the future when poor caretakers and his illness affects his new-found love life. The plot is one that I think many people would be interested in. I myself never listened to the Beach Boys, but I know lot's of people did. With a story like this I think it would interest a lot of people. Fortunately, I like stories about mentally ill people, so this movie still caught my attention. The way the story is presented is really great, with it switching back and forth between two different time periods. It doesn't ever show too little of one time period, and both are very interesting. The characters are pretty great. John Cusack especially does a great job as Brian Wilson, but Paul Dano is equally, if not more, fantastic. Everyone else is very good in their roles, but these two in particular stood out. The characters themselves are interesting too, and they feel pretty real for the most part. My only real complaint about this movie is that it could be a little slow. Maybe that's because I watched it late at night, or maybe not. Either way, it didn't always hold my complete attention. Overall Love & Mercy is fantastic. The cast is great, the characters are great, it's presented in an interesting way and is just an interesting story in general. It suffers from being a little slow, but otherwise it's a fantastic movie. In the end I would certainly recommend this movie.