Bad casting spoils it

Rating: 4/10 (15 May 2020)

Paul Dano is brilliant as the young Brian Wilson, he captured him so well. The other actors playing various Beach boys were also well cast, but then along came John Cusack playing the older Brian Wilson and it was awful, spoiling an otherwise good movie.
There was no reason Paul Dano could not have continued to play the older Brian, movie makeup has come a long way and it could have really worked. Cusack looks nothing like Brian, not even remotely and every time it cut to him the movie lost all credibility. In fact the first time he appeared I had no idea who he was supposed to be.
When you see Brian Wilson himself singing at the end of the movie, it really drives home how badly cast John Cusack was. It is a shame as this could have been a brilliant biopic, but Ray it isn't.
There were some great scenes of early Beach boys, especially the live stage scenes and the making of the album Pet Sounds, and the song "Good Vibrations,"
Mike Love, Dennis and Carl Wilson, all seemed reasonably well played if a little underused.
Elizabeth Banks played her part brilliantly and out-acted Cusack.
The actor playing Eugene Landy was also badly miss-cast and the scenes surrounding him showed Brian to be a weak almost childish person, not someone with drug and mental health issues.
The best parts of this movie are the recreation of the Beach boys making and performing their classic hits.