Summary:

Pop singer Bobby Darin makes a quick ascension to the top of the entertainment industry, marries movie star Sandra Dee, then slides into disfavor and dies at the age of 37 while undergoing surgery to repair a faulty heart valve.

Steve says:

When I recently mentioned to a 30-year-old woman that I had seen a movie on the life of Bobby Darin, my comment was met by a blank stare and the question, “Who’s Bobby Darin?” Therein lies the crux of the problem: why do a biopic on someone who is largely forgotten? The music of Frank Sinatra will continue to be played for decades beyond his death. But Bobby Darin’s music wasn’t even being played at the end of his life.

BEYOND THE SEA has the unfortunate fate of playing in theaters at the same time that Jamie Foxx’s soul-searing performance as Ray Charles is still on the big screen. One can’t help but compare the two and BEYOND THE SEA inevitably comes up short.

In the case of RAY, Foxx is so good in the role that you actually forget you’re not watching the real Ray Charles. Kevin Spacey, despite being one of the finest American actors working today, never fully succeeds in letting us forget the artifice behind the performance. The only time he comes close to capturing Darin’s essence is when he’s performing one of the tunes that Darin made into a hit. Spacey has a better-than passable singing voice and matches Darin’s finger-popping cool personae when he’s onstage. Darin’s family initially balked at having Spacey do his own singing, but the actor acquits himself well as a warbler and hoofer.

One thing that is most difficult to get past is the fact that Kevin Spacey is starting to grow jowls worthy of J. Edgar Hoover as he moves well into middle age while Bobby Darin died before he ever got there. Spacey, as screenwriter, attempts to head off this criticism by framing the story in the conceit that Darin is making a movie about his own life, thus prompting his manager, Steve “Boom Boom” Blauner (John Goodman) to remark, “How can you be too old to play yourself?” Nice try, Kev, but it really doesn’t fix the problem.

Most biopix conclude with some great triumph on the part of its subject. In the case of Bobby Darin, he finally got to play the Copacabana. Big whoop; not exactly on a par discovering the cure for cancer.

The film takes us through Darin’s career decline, into the late 60’s, when he hooked up with Bobby Kennedy’s presidential campaign and decided he should devote his life to truth. So he threw out his toupees, grew a moustache, donned granny glasses and began writing such protest songs as SIMPLE SONG OF FREEDOM. It is during this portion of the movie that Spacey comes the closest to capturing Darin’s look and persona.

Spacey, while clearly a huge Bobby Darin fan, doesn’t flinch at portraying him as an ass when he deserves it, specifically in his relationship with his wife, teen queen Sandra Dee, (who would also be forgotten today if it weren’t for that song in GREASE).

If you’re old enough to remember Bobby Darin and were a fan of his music, you might have a reason to catch BEYOND THE SEA. Otherwise, use your nine bucks to experience RAY and see how a movie biography should be done.

Two kernels for BEYOND THE SEA.

Patty says:

Of course I’m not nearly old enough to remember Bobby Darin as a household name.  I vaguely remember Sandra Dee, …or maybe that was Annette Funicello.  At any rate, I’m not old enough to remember Richie Valens either, but I had a pretty good time watching LA BAMBA.  Of course in LA BAMBA they didn’t cast Desi Arnaz to play Valens.  Kevin, darlin’ what were you thinking?  Even if you can look reasonably hip and croon out those 50’s numbers, you can no more play a twenty-something teen idol than Cher can play Lolita.  Time to move on.  Your middle age is passing faster than gas at a chili cook-off.

BEYOND THE SEA is a nostalgic look at the fleeting life of Bobby Darin.  As in RAY, this is the story of a talented kid who has some tough breaks in life but manages to fulfill his dreams...at least some of them.  Watching the film, you keep waiting to get to some new theme that will be more interesting than a slightly less dated Horatio Alger story.  It just doesn’t happen.  In fact, I left the theater wondering what it was that people saw in Bobby Darin.  His music wasn’t ground-breaking.  His style was similar to other singers of his generation and in fact, he wasn’t all that good looking.  Kevin Spacey probably doesn’t get thrown out of many women’s beds, and in fact he does look a little like Darin, but neither rank at high end of the swoon-o-meter. 

What was missing in the film was…well, stuff about Darin’s films.  He made 13 movies during his career and there was very little time spent dealing with Darin the actor.  In fact, he received an Oscar nomination for a hypnotic 1963 performance in CAPTAIN NEWMAN, M.D. He played a decorated WW II aviator and psychiatric patient who thinks he’s a coward for not saving his friend from the burning plane. Bobby also won the coveted Golden Globe/Foreign Press Association and French Film Critics acting awards.  BEYOND THE SEA stays myopically focused on the Darin’s music career and his relationship with Sandra Dee.  It could have been more interesting….but then, maybe not.

The performances were solid, the music nostalgic and the film was infinitely forgettable.  In fact….you can forget to go see it.