Half All That Jazz,half A Star Is Born (Streisand's version) Beyond The Sea is one of the weirder "personal" projects by a star I've ever seen. Although I found Spacey's direction to be outstanding (he does a terrific job with the musical performances, for example, which is incredibly daunting even for veteran directors.)and his singing is also spot on, Please dear Lord, never, ever let him be photographed dancing again. His arrhythmic flailings are closer to "first-time ice skater" than Gene Kelly and are not easy to watch. My problems with the film fall into two categories: one minor, one major-- because the film was made on a smallish budget and is mostly soundstage bound, the interiors often seem cramped and claustrophobic. (I have to give Spacey the director credit: he never lets this get in the way of the performances. He moves the camera like a polished pro.)The major problem is the Star Is Born aspect: there is a big chunk in the middle of the film, beginning with Darin's marriage to Sandra Dee, where the flashy fantasy show biz aspects of the film are set aside and it becomes a dullish and conventional, "bad movie, bad marriage" hash. But Kate Bosworth continues to move beyond her Blue Crush debut and does a fine job with her part, becoming even more convincing as her character ages.(Parenthetically, John Goodman seems to be revisiting his agent part from Dylan's Masked and Anonymous, although somewhat toned down.) It's a diverting, if minor and flawed, film and will be worth a rental whenever it shows up on DVD.
Review of Beyond the Sea
