Wanted more from this

Rating: 7/10 (13 July 2015)

As a fan of the Beach Boys and Brian Wilson in particular, I was eager to see this movie. Brian is a guy with an enormous musical talent. He had quite an abusive upbringing from his father - but in the movie he says that if he hadn't had that amount of discipline from his father, he may never have achieved the greatness that he did.
The movie does jump around quite a bit - some people may struggle with that if they don't know their history. What was the final edit, is generally very good and worthwhile. It sympathetically showed Brian's mental struggles alongside his genius. He is a very fragile person but in his own world of music he has some confidence.
I wish we got to learn how this creep of a psychotherapist got into Brian's life and was able to take over in the way that he did. I'm just baffled that surviving family members and the band didn't get more involved to stop this getting out of control in the way that it did. There's huge gaps in the story - and maybe that's because Brian himself is unable to fill them himself as there were a number of years where he was barely able to function.
The movie will have natural appeal to Beach Boys/Brian Wilson fans, but I'm not sure it will have much appeal to outsiders.
I am delighted that Brian has got his life back and is able to perform and write in a way that's comfortable for him. He seems to be at the best place in his head that he's ever been and seems to have a good grasp on reality.
Worthwhile but could have been a little better.