The Beach Boys: An American Family (2000)

Director: Jeff Bleckner                                    Writer: Kirk Ellis
Film Score: Gary Griffin                                  Cinematography: Brian J. Reynolds
Starring: Frederick Weller, Matt Letscher, Nick Stabile and Kevin Dunn

This ABC miniseries about the genesis of The Beach Boys is surprisingly one-dimensional, and yet it still manages to hold interest, which is probably more a function of the actors than anything intrinsic in the writing or direction. In fact, Brian Wilson, who was a consultant on the film and helped in producing the soundtrack, was unhappy with the final product and felt that far too many liberties were taken with his story. Nevertheless, The Beach Boys: An American Family, is worth a peek, just to see what all the fuss is about. Credit for the distortions, which have apparently been going on for decades, have been attributed to Mike Love who has been in court numerous times over the years to avenge his version of the truth over that of Brian’s. One of these happens in the beginning of the film when Mick Stabile as Dennis Wilson steals his dad’s T-Bird and heads to the beach with his surfboard. On the way he stops at a gas station where cousin Mike Love, played by Matt Letscher, closes shop and grabs his board to surf with his pal. From all non-fiction of accounts of the group, however, Dennis was the only one of the boys that ever surfed, and apparently Dennis and Mike never liked each other very much at all. Throughout, Love is portrayed as providing the impetus for getting and keeping the group together, and especially for harnessing Brian Wilson’s talent as well as providing the lyrics for every song that is shown being written in the film.

At the same time Brian is portrayed as a tortured genius who needed guidance, first by his father and then by Love, and the second half of the film that deals with his mental breakdown seems incredibly phony. Dennis is made to look like a disturbed bad boy, immature and unable to control his rebellious streak, and while some of that may be true the aspect of his personality that shows him frightened all the time is certainly false, and again begs the question of whose perspective the story is being told from. Ironically, the character who comes out looking better than he really was--in addition to Love--is the boy’s father, Murray Wilson, played by Kevin Dunn. In the film he is shown as a middle-aged dreamer who wanted to live through the success of his sons, which certainly was the case, but according to the most thorough biography to date, Heroes and Villains by Steven Gaines, he was much more heavy-handed, intrusive, and controlling than in the film. But worse than his domineering personality, the Wilson’s father virtually stole the rights to the group’s music and sold it for a fraction of what it was eventually worth. There’s certainly an element of irony in the subtitle of the film: an American Family. But what there’s no denying is the intrinsic artistry of their songs today, especially the music written by Brian Wilson. And in that regard, there’s little to argue with in looking at the rather juvenile lyrics of Mike Love compared with the transcendent musical vision of Brian Wilson. And no one has ever thought Love had a good singing voice. The film certainly benefits from Wilson’s participation, despite the negative views he had about the film or its artistic failures.

The film itself centers on Frederick Weller as Brian Wilson, who is unfortunately given very little to work with in Kirk Ellis’s screenplay. He comes off as innocent and indecisive, hating nearly every aspect of making music for the group, which just rings false even if you know nothing about the group. But Weller does about as well as anyone could do, especially given the circumstances. Matt Letscher, on the other hand, is riveting as Mike Love. He has the speech patterns down as well as the physical gestures, and his onstage movements are so good it’s eerie. Nick Stabile also does a very nice job as Dennis Wilson, especially in the scenes where he plays the drums. His movements are, again, so precise that it does conjure up the image of the first of the brother’s to die. The rest of the cast, unfortunately, is decidedly average. Ryan Northcott as Carl Wilson is a good actor but the screenplay barely touches on the brother with the angelic voice. The same goes for Ned Vaughn as Al Jardine, while Dublin James as neighbor Dave Marks simply comes off as an idiot. It’s interesting to see Alley Mills as the Wilson’s mother, especially after her iconic role as the mother in the Sixties comedy-drama The Wonder Years. Kevin Dunn as Murray Wilson, however, doesn’t seem to be a very good choice. He does as well as he can, but lacks the underlying menace that can be seen even in pictures of the man from the era. The Beach Boys: An American Family suffers from the same limitations as most TV movies: limited budget and lesser talent. It manages to hold interest, barely, but even the most cursory reading of the history of the band will reveal its weakness as genuine pop music history.