Although I know most of The Beach Boy hits, I wouldn’t call myself a fan. I didn’t know anything about Brian Wilson’s disappearance from the music scene or the controversy surrounding him. I was able to see The Beach Boys perform at an Oracle conference I attended in San Diego a number of years ago, after Brian got back on track.

The movie was interesting even without knowing the back story. Both of the actors playing the part of Brian Wilson were excellent. The younger version was quite believable as a musical genius, and the older version (played by John Cusack) was also believable as a man suffering from, albeit a misdiagnosed, paranoid schizophrenia.