Search - Beyond the Sea on DVD

Anthia R. (hepburn05) from CANBY, CA
Reviewed on 3/15/2010...

A good story about Bobby Darin. A good story with good acting and singing. I like the fact that you get a better view of the singers themselves and the hardships along with the fame they had to deal with.

3 of 4 member(s) found this review helpful.

Justina C.
Reviewed on 8/31/2008...

Excellent! The song & dance numbers are really great & YES it is really Kevin Spacey singing.

4 of 5 member(s) found this review helpful.

Michael M. (bugsyboy) from LEAWOOD, KS
Reviewed on 6/13/2008...

This biopic about Bobby Darin is excellent. Who knew Kevin Spacey could sing.

2 of 3 member(s) found this review helpful.

Marla R. (Marla-R) from SEDALIA, MO
Reviewed on 2/19/2008...

Very good!

3 of 5 member(s) found this review helpful.

A good film about Bobby Darin, lovingly made by Spacey

Nicolas Leobold | New York, NY United States | 12/19/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I saw this movie on opening weekend Saturday last night at the Loews Lincoln Square Cinemas in New York City. My reaction is that the film did have numerous flaws, and especially in the first half of the film it just didn't have "it", as character Polly described that intangible necessity of successful show business. The film meandered through several incoherent flash back/alternate reality episodes and several unnecesary musical extravaganza-type dance numbers which were just superfluous and out of place. However, I must say that the film got much better as it went along and the second half was very good. There are several beautiful scenes including the Darins' wedding night and the closing concert number when Bobby gives his farewell. The other good thing is that Kevin Spacey did all his own musical performances in this movie, and he sings and dances very well, especially his singing, which really does Bobby Darin justice. It's obvious from interviews Spacey has given that he is a big fan of Darin's, and his care and emotion for the legend are obvious in the film, which Spacey also directed and produced. Spacey had to get overseas financing for this film and it was shot in Germany, because Hollywood didn't think American audiences would pay to see a movie about a singer most people don't know about. I think that was a mistake, but instead of detracting from the quality of the film, I think like most European productions, the German production locations and crews were an advantage, and certainly the Las Vegas and California scenes look like they were shot in the U.S. (thanks to modern special effects). I recommend this movie. It's a loving tribute to Bobby Darin, a great singer and an entertainer who overcame impossible odds to succeed in show business. This movie also overcame long odds and Kevin Spacey must be given credit for persevering and finally getting it made."

Plays like a TV movie

Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 10/14/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"My greatest memory of this film -- "Beyond the Sea", actor/director/producer Kevin Spacey's very personal and somewhat idiosyncratic look at the life of 1960s singer-actor Bobby Darin -- is how little the film used the immense talent available



In a cast that included Spacey, Kate Bosworth, John Goodman and Bob Hoskins, not a single actor in the group could be said to deliver anything more than an adequate performance. Spacey, who played the adult Darin and did his own singing in the movie, was a shell of the actor that distinguished himself in much better films like "The Shipping News", "American Beauty" and "L.A. Confidential". His singing was pretty good and, who knows, he may have been the epitome of Darin. But he wasn't much compared to what Kevin Spacey has been in the past.



Kate Bosworth has starred in a mix of films in her young life ranging from "Sin City" to "Blue Crush" to "Rules of Attraction", does creditable work as Mrs. Darin, Sandra Dee. Her wigs don't do much for the part -- the real Sandra Dee's hair looked more realistic than actresses hair does in the new century -- although she was always well-lighted and, therefore, filmed well. Unfortunately, her role was monodimensional and she delivered the goods as if a cardboard cutout with moveable lips and eyebrows.



The greatest disappointment for me was the tawdry and boring character John Goodman was asked to play. Here is an actor of stature that can adapt to many characterizations and adapted well to this one. However, either the role, the script of the direction drained Goodman of his trademark humor and individuality. I wasn't sure if his character was supposed to be English but it seemed so; he spoke with a minor accent and displayed all the reticence of an English gentleman.



As to the film itself, Spacey's production was too far fetched in the beginning to pull you into the story. In fact, it wasn't clear to me what was going in the movie's first 10 minutes. Was this a put on, this correspondence between characters in front of the audience? When the story got moving, it was pretty entertaining. Yet, if this movie was all there was to Darin's life, it made a pretty forgettable flick.



This movie seemed to me to play out more like a made for TV flick than a Hollywood production. Comparing it to "Walk the Line", the film about singer Johnny Cash made about the same time, was like comparing "Reagan" to "Nixon": One was made for cable with a limited budget & limited perspective and played out like a sequence of frames in the cartoon section. Yhe other was made for the big screen with corresponding acting budget, breadth in production values, and felicities in the script based on solid historical research.



"Beyond the Sea" can be an interesting view into the life of a 1960s pop icon if you can get by the cornball beginning and not think about why these great actors aren't being asked to be great actors. But under no circumstances will it ever be more than an average film."