kalvbsail Okay so do you think La La Land was inspired by the production number interwoven within this movie??? The music and dancing were very similar from my point of view and executed with similar style. I love Kevin Spacey he is a great artist and vocalist. They capture the 50's 60's genre well. I'm interested to see if anyone else thinks La La Land took some of the style from this???

hollyjolly71 I didn't watch this movie for a long time because my neighbor said it was sad and I didn't want to be sad. I thought it would be like "Leaving Las Vegas". That's what I get for listening to someone else's opinion.I just finished it and thought it was great. It reminded me of an old musical like Bye Bye Birdie or West Side Story. I didn't expect that. I loved the music and thought Spacey was wonderful in all aspects - singing, dancing, acting and directing. I actually "googled" it to see if it had won any awards. I thought it was that good.Just goes to show, we all have our own opinions and personally, I will watch it again. Loved the music and everything about it. I miss good movies like this.

museumofdave While essentially a standard, old-fashioned musical biopic, this Spacey oddity has many major strengths, and one whopper of a drawback; the film never flags in energy, it charts a life in music clubs like the Copacabana and whirls in Hollywood with Sandra Dee, all done with a heady nostalgic flair. The film has a dynamic supporting cast--what's not to like about Kate Bosworth, Bob Hoskins, Brenda Blethyn, and Greta Schacchi? And Spacey can belt out the Darin songs with amazing energy and galvanizing verve.But you can't fool the camera! Being a stage actor, Mr. Spacey may have thought that a man twice as old as Darin could get away with being a teenybopper delight--distance can create that illusion. But the camera, up-close and in person, and Spacey's frame, that of an aging middle-aged man, creates an often macabre ambiance when placed next to obviously younger people. As Darin ages, Spacey fills in nicely--but it took this viewer an hour to suspend disbelief.

patrick powell Beyond The Sea, portraying the life and times of singer and actor Bobby Darin, shouldn't work but it does: part biopic, part musical, part fantasy, it is none of these, yet all of them. It might well have ended up a great, amorphous, self-indulgent mess and that it doesn't is, I should imagine, down to the undoubted and, apparently limitless, talents of Kevin Spacey. Not only did he co-write, direct and co-produce Beyond The Sea, he also sings the songs himself and proves to my — admittedly untutored eye — that he is no mean hoofer. It is legitimate to ask: why portray the life of Bobby Darin. He was undoubtedly a good singer with any number of hits to his name and even won an Oscar, but the name will surely mean nothing to most folk under the age of 60. And there is any number of good singers with hits to their names as well as Oscar-winning actors whose lives might equally have merited film treatment. So why Bobby Darin. The answer is quite banal: Spacey has admitted that he has always been fascinated by the singer. Well, if the money is their to pay the production costs and the investors are confident they will turn a profit, why not make this film. But that rather misses the point, and it is relevant to point out that for a man in his mid-forties, Spacey is an unlikely choice to play Darin. But Beyond The Sea is no vanity project. In its mix of genre, it seems to have evolved into a new one, and one I am hard pushed to give a name. The only other film of which it reminds me is Chicago. In both seemingly scenes rooted in the real world pan out into glossy stage numbers. It's a risky way of going about making films, but, and this is crucial, it works and works in spades. Why see it, especially if you have never heard of Bobby Darin? My advice is simple: if you like exceptionally well-made films, with a story, with songs, with dancing, with poignancy and with a lot of vim and chutzpah, you well spend an agreeable two hours with Beyond The Sea. In short, if you like this kind of thing, if you liked Dancin' In The Rain, On The Town and An American In Paris, you will probably love Beyond The Sea. Spacey's performance is noteworthy as is that of Kate Bosworth as Sandra Dee, the woman who fell in love with him and never fell out of love. Special mention should also go to William Ulrich as 'Little Bobby', who shares a great dance number with Spacey as the older Darin. As I said, this shouldn't work, but it does, and that is a certain magic in itself.