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In interviews promoting this engrossing film biography, Kevin Spacey said he believed he was born to play the film's subject, legendary pop singer and movie star Bobby Darin. And it's obvious that making Beyond the Sea was a labor of love for the Academy Award-winning actor: In addition to playing Darin (and doing his own vocals), Spacey also directed, produced, and co-wrote the screenplay. Darin, after attaining pop stardom with such hits as "Splish Splash" and "Mack the Knife," married teen queen Sandra Dee, enjoyed middling success in movies, then saw his star decline. After mounting a none-too-successful comeback, he died young (age 37) -- not rock ‘n’ roll style from a drug overdose or car crash, but during open-heart surgery. Darin's heart had been damaged by rheumatic fever when he was 7, and doctors did not expect him to live past the age of 15. Yet he was so driven to succeed that his story becomes one of astonishing will more than a sum of career landmarks. And that’s the quality Spacey crystallizes, playing Darin as a committed performer racing against time to leave his mark on American pop culture. He's absolutely terrific in the role, not only replicating Darin's style and sound but also capturing the feverish intensity of a brilliant entertainer all too aware of his physical limitations and determined to transcend them. Well slotted in key supporting roles are Kate Bosworth (as Dee), John Goodman (as Bobby's manager), Brenda Blethyn (as his mother), and Bob Hoskins (as his brother-in-law). But this is Spacey's show all the way, and he's positively riveting in one of his best screen performances to date. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Kevin Spacey serves as both director and star for this biopic based on the life and career of legendary entertainer Bobby Darin, which moves back and forth between his childhood and adult selves to tell the tale of his remarkable life. Born Bobby Cassotto and raised in the Bronx, young Bobby (played as a child by William Ullrich) was raised by his mother, Polly (Brenda Blethyn), his brother-in-law, Charlie (Bob Hoskins), and his sister, Nina (Caroline Aaron). At the age of 15, Bobby contracted a severe case of rheumatic fever, which was expected to take his life; while it left him with a weak heart, Bobby beat the odds and survived. Buoyed by a love of music passed along by his mother, Bobby learned to play several instruments and began singing as he recovered. Displaying a confidence and drive which stopped just short of arrogance, he adopted the stage name Bobby Darin and set his sights on becoming a star. After a string of hits as a rock & roll singer, Darin (played as an adult by Kevin Spacey) takes another gamble, and with the help of manager Steve Blauner (John Goodman) he reinvents himself as a supper-club vocalist in the manner of Frank Sinatra. All the more remarkably, he succeeds, and his swinging version of "Mack the Knife" tops the charts. Now a major singing star, Darin decides to take up acting; on the set of his first movie, he woos his female co-star Sandra Dee (Kate Bosworth), and despite the stern objections of her mother (Greta Scacchi), Bobby and Sandra wed. But after a string of successful movies for Dee and hit records and an Oscar nomination for Darin, the shifting tastes of the 1960s throw their careers off-track. Bobby cautiously embraces the new sounds of the day, but his old fans don't want to hear him cover Bob Dylan or the Rolling Stones, while the younger audience isn't interested in his new sound, leaving Darin in a difficult place to make his way back to stardom. Kevin Spacey did his own singing for Beyond the Sea, recreating Bobby Darin's vocal style with uncanny accuracy. Mark Deming

Product Details

• UPC: 012236107569
• Source: LIONS GATE
• Time: 1:58:00
• Sales Rank: 13,093