Beyond the Sea : Widescreen Edition

This was a well acted, fast paced movie with lots of good music. Most amazingly the lead actor did his own singing and sounded just like Bobby Darin.

All good

I watched this movie on Amazon Instant Video again last night. I had seen it on the big movie screen when it first came out a few years ago. Although I can't say it was bad or that I didn't like parts of it, I was distracted by the musical staged numbers which interrupted the story line all too many times. On stage this may work; but not in the drama which was really Darin's life.Kevin Stacey's impersonation of Bobby Darin's singing style is almost flawless; but, I stress again, that the story line seemed liked a drama with inserted musical portions which somehow just didn't flow together right.Kate Bosworth makes a good to very good attempt at "doing" Sandra Dee. But, not , the Sandra Dee I well remember and would have liked to have seen. Looking like her just didn't capture the essence of the Sandra Dee I remember and I mean the one in serious drama. She does show us a Dee who was far from "Tammy" or "Gidget" and does well in the fights with Stacey (Darin). However, it is really Kevin Stacey's movie until the ending when the young boy who plays Darin as an eight or so year old steals the show. Yet even the final dance scene was uneven and almost an insert to take away from the tragic reality of Darin's untimely death. Instead of that the movie tries to sooth this over and make us all feel better by using the old standby: "The guy is dead but the song lives on." Please!Yet, anything, which is related to the great Bobby Darin deserves praise and applause which is, perhaps, far over due.I will be forgetting this movie (actually had forgot most of it since my first viewing); but I will never forget the singer I so loved as I danced (in my young adult years) to "Mack the Knife." The "song" does live on almost as classic as Garland's "Over the Rainbow." This man's talent went beyond most popular singers of his time, despite poor health and set backs and a failed marriage. Back in a day of social revolutions and change he did make transitions in style and creativity to go beyond Darin to the heart beat of a suffering country with his "simple freedom" song. Wish he had been around a lot longer to stay with us on the journey and transitions we all had to make. Thanks to Stacey and cast (John Goodman was good as Darin's sassy manager) for their efforts. Worth a watch and only $2.99 here on Amazon Instant Video unless you are an Amazon prime video..member..then it's $0.00.

Wish we could see many, many live performances like this, these days. So fabulous! Kevin Spacey is amazing. Miss him, too. Great movie! Buying the soundtrack.

Loved, Loved It. Actually had not even heard of it until I was browsing Amazon Prime Movies. I adored both Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee when I was young. I knew somethings about them, but not the whole story. This is not the whole story either, but I can look up the story of both or either on the internet. What Kevin Spacey does is incredible. There were some negative reviews saying how could someone as old as Kevin play the part of a young Bobby Darin in love with a gorgeous doll like Sandra Dee. Here is how he did it. He shows us the essence of who Bobby Darin was. Darin was a man full of ego, energy, talent, and creativity. He shows us a Bobby Darin that commanded the floor when he performed. I didn't see an older Keven Spacey at all. I saw Bobby Darin. I saw him pursuing the young actress, Sandra Dee with wit and charm to win her over. Spacey wrote, directed, and starred in the movie. There is also a very young Bobby in the show that helps us to understand Bobby's roots. Kate Bosworth stars as the young innocent Sandra Dee. I couldn't imagine anyone playing her part and remotely reminding me of Dee. But Kate was perfect for it. I fell in love with Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee all over again. Thank you Kevin Spacey. Your singing, dancing, and the whole movie deserved an award. For those of you who are too young to know Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee, here is your chance. It is just a fun show about an incredible couple.

Like him or not this movie is filled with great music and wonderful choreography. I still have a hard time believing that he actually sung the lyrics on the soundtrack.As an aside, John Goodman did a spectacular job as playing Bobby Darin's manager.Just forget Stacey's Hollywood escapades and enjoy the film for what it is.

If you love Bobby Darin, you will enjoy this movie The movie itself is more like 3 1/2 to 4 stars overall, and its best moments are in the first half to the first 2/3 of the film. On the other hand, Keven Spacey is PERFECT as playing Darin and thus the 5 star rating. Spacey's personal fondness for Darin comes across in the movie and he does BD justice. Spacey does HIS OWN singing/dancing in the film! He captures the essence of Darin extremely well, as does the movie capture the feel of the '50s/early '60s night club era. The actresses who play BD's mother and sister are excellent and John Goodman is his usual great self. Other actors in the movie are also credible. I could have done without the little boy "muse" on the side. Kate Bosworth is a weak link in the movie - her performance is just OK, rather flat. I wish they had cast a better actress who could have made us see and feel, however subtly, Sandra Dee's own internal, damaged self, as well as the passion that she had for Bobby. The important chemistry between Bobby and Sandra was just not captured in this film but I believe it was because of Bosworth lacking the depth she needed to play her character. What a shame. That should have been on of the pivotal points in this movie. All that being said, if you are a Kevin Spacey fan you will love this film, as did I. Overall, very glad he made this movie and very glad that I bought it.

This could so easily have become a vanity project, but happily it is an entertaining and reasonably well-realised biopic of singer Bobby Darin.I say biopic, but it is presented in such a way as to give an impressionistic view of Darin and his career rather than an historically accurate one – at one level it is almost a musical in the theatrical sense, with structured dance routines and fantasy scenes; this is largely down to it's opening premise of a “film within a film”; it is, therefore a little unconventional, though a fairly imaginative piece of screen-writing.Spacey is outstanding in the part and the musical content is all one could hope for with excellent big band scores and attention to detail; the cinematography is first-rate and Kate Bosworth deserves special mention for her portrayal of Sandra Dee.The film didn't do well on release and came in for a good deal of criticism, but it's better than that suggests – I think with time and it's release on DVD those views have softened; I certainly enjoyed it well enough to consider writing this review anyway.I note one reviewer here has stated there are no extras; my EIV edition has both a director/producer commentary and short “making of” documentary on it so perhaps there is more than one version around.A decent enough musical film, probably of most interest to Darin`s fans but certainly not exclusively so.

Being a fan of the swing era and in particular Darin I couldn't wait to see this movie when I first heard about it being made. Knowing about the people involved, what story it had to tell and the format it would take I just knew this would be amazing from the first minute to the last. Kevin Spacey is currently the finest actor to ever grace the silver screen, and he will go down in history as one of the finest to ever grace it. Bobby Darin in contrast was one of the finest singers of the great musical generation, was basically the first ever teen idol and has definitely gone down in history as one of the most entertaining and charismatic singers of the swing generation.Before the film had even come to the screens, there was constant talk about whether Spacey was too old to play the part being 45 at the time and playing Bobby from his early to later career. In some respects it may be true that Kevin may have been too old to play the part, but he certainly put my fears to rest. The opening sequence of the film is an elongated introduction to the legendary song of "Mack The Knife" in which we're instantly introduced to Spacey as Darin making his way to the stage. The minute Spacey hits the stage, grabs the mic and engages the audience of actors you know that he was born to play Darin.The story quite simply focuses around the life of Bobby Darin starting off modestly in his childhood when being taught the piano and to sing by his Mother, then growing into becoming the star he is. At the age of 8 Darin overheard a doctor tell his mother that he (Darin) would be lucky to see 16 years of age, so he lived in constant fear of his own mortality and developed high determination to live his short life to the fullest. Throughout the story we come to see the people he met that changed his life forever, especially his first wife Sandra Dee (Kate Bosworth).Being a Biopic Musical is something you don't regularly see, but when it does come around it certainly is an experience and this is made all the better with Spacey doing his musical performances. I honestly didn't realise that Spacey had such vocal talent, but the mimicry of all of Darins mannerisms are certainly something special. The dialect, the movements, the charisma and the aura are all expressed superbly throughout the film. In effect Spacey overshadows the entire supporting cast with his truly outstanding performance throughout. I'm not sure why but Spacey seemed to put that little bit extra into this performance, whether it was to prove the critics wrong or whether it was to do Darin justice I simply don't know, but what I do know is that it was wonderful.Mentioning the supporting cast, there are certainly a few big names in there such as John Goodman as Darins manager, Bob Hoskins as his sisters husband and of course Kate Bosworth as the fabulous Sandra Dee. A special mention should go to William Ullrich as he plays a young Bobby Darin and actually performs a few musical duets with Spacey within the film. He's a delightful kid and very talented and possibly the only one not to be overshadowed by Spacey's presence.Overall I would advise you all to ignore the negative critics on this one and at least give it a chance. Of course, if you don't like it then, then at least you can say "well I gave it a shot and it just didn't work for me." This isn't a film for everyone because of its subject and its format as some simply aren't fans of musicals, but judge each film on its merit that's what I say.

This is a truly great film - I recommend if you do by it to watch the Making of Documentary on the DVD Extras part of the disc, this goes into the making of the film and it will show you lots of behind the scenes work that will enhance your appreciation of the finished product.Well I bet you never knew that Kevin Spacey had experience in performing in musicals? Well neither did I. He does all his own singing and dance moves in this film too.The film is really worth a look, it is not a nuts and bolts docu drama, but represents a fairly accurate portrayal of Bobby Darin's life and experiences.The film covers many facets of Bobby Darin's life, the film gives you the real feel good songs, the emotions of life on and off stage, it shows that Bobby Darin was a hugely talented man who knew he only had a limited life expectancy due to his health but he made the most of what he had in terms of talent and determination to succeed.The portrayal of Bobby Darin by Kevin Spacey is remarkable, it is hard to tell where the actor and the singer separate it is that good. Kevin Spacey sings All the songs in the film, no backing tracks here and does all the dance sequences which are brilliant.Kate Bosworth is excellent as Sandra Dee Darin's wife, a cast of actors such as Bob Hoskins, Brenda Blethyn, John Goodman etc really do bring this film to life.The film does for its length manage to tell facets of the eventful life of Bobby Darin.If I have one critcism of the fim, it has to be that the makers should have also filmed Kevin Spacey doing the Bobby Darin numbers in a concert format as such, that would have been such a great performance to have seen full length versions of the songs.However, that is just an opinion and would only put the icing on top of an already great film.I would also recommend the CD Beyond the Sea which has full length versions of the songs from the film too.

Have you ever seen Kevin Spacey in a bad movie? No - me neither. And i know the guy can do impressions - see various chat show appearances.HOWEVERto emulate and take on the singing mantle of the greatest swing singer of his age? Surely Mr Spacey has over-stretched himself?Not a chance.if you own - as do i - the "real Bobby Darin's" Live at the Flamingo album - then you will know within 3 minutes of the start that Kevin is SPOT ON.This is right up there with Walk the Line. That got a clutch of Oscar nominations - so why not this one? No idea.If you admire the work of BD's brief 37 years you will enjoy thisIf you were around at the time you will love thisIf you believe KS to be one of the best 3 working actors around today then i am just plain jealous - as you have this treat to come.If you don't like musicals - and fairly unstructured surreal toing-and-froing backwards and forwards in time - you may struggle in parts.but as an affectionate, respectful, engageing, feelgood romp - this has few equals.

I was a teenager at the time of the original, so I really enjoyed the music in this film and couldn't tell the difference between the real Bobby Darin and Kevin Spacey's excellent portrayal and singing, but maybe someone with more sense should have produced the film.The plot was a disjointed mess of fantasy scenes, having more in common with Busby Berkeley in the 1930s than the 1960s. Bobby talking to his dead mother and performing with himself as a child was beyond belief.Also, surely they could have found a more appropriate actress to play Sandra Dee who was blonde, cute and curvy. Kate Bosworth, wearing a silly grin and permanently vacant expression throughout, bore no resemblance to the original. (To see the real one, check out her films - A Summer Place and Come September (the one with Rock Hudson) on Amazon and judge for yourself).Pity to turn a good idea into a disappointing film, so 3/5 stars just for the music is the best I can do.