'Beyond the sea'- the Bobby Darin Biopic | Golden Skate

'Beyond the sea'- the Bobby Darin Biopic

Vash01

Medalist
Joined
Jul 31, 2003
I saw this movie today. It had some very good things but I felt that it did not achieve the height it should have at the end.

SPOILERS ahead..............

I did not know Bobby Darin and I had never heard his songs. I had heard his name, however, and that he was married to Sandra Dee (she acted in the Summer Place). Larry King Live interviewed Kevin Spacey and Bobby Darin's son Dodd Darin, and IIRC Bobby Darin's manager. It got me interested in the movie. When there are movies about real people, it adds to my intrigue and my interest.

The movie did not disappoint, as the story is told in an entertaining manner. The acting was good, although I felt Spacey -at age 45-was too old to play the singer who died at age 37. There are many touching moments and drama in the movie. However, introducing the child 'Bobby' and the adult 'Bobby' simultaneously does not always work. In the end it actually hurts the movie because it dilutes the impact of the movie. When Darin sings in a nightclub at the end, as his comeback, it was a high point of the movie and the movie should have ended quickly after his death.

Spacey sings Bobby Darin's songs himself. I was amazed to see what a good singer he is. However, true fans of Bobby Darin may not like it. Kat Bosworth is excellent as Sandra Dee and it is easy to see why the marriage between these two superstars did not work. In the movie they don't divorce. In real life Darin remarried after the divorce. That part has been completely left out of the movie, so it is not quite honest to the real story of this extraordinary person/singer who was not expected to live past age 15. His love of music and his zest for life kept him alive until age 37.

The real triumph of this movie is in telling people like me the story of this star of yesteryear. Now I am interested in hearing his songs and reading about his life. Kevin Spacey deserves to be congratulated for bringing the story to the screen and contributing to it in many different ways. In addition to playing the lead role, he also directed and co-wrote the movie.

Vash
 
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