Holiday Movie Preview 2004

Beyond the Sea

It's too bad '50s pop idol Bobby Darin was a self-obsessed, arrogant jerk, because from the moment Kevin Spacey glides onto the screen crooning "Mac the Knife," it's obvious he's having the time of his life playing the quintessential lounge lizard. He snaps his fingers, wiggles his hips and belts out Darin's signature numbers like "Dream Lover" and "Splish Splash" with a look of total exhilaration.

But there's more to this biopic than just a walk in the park with Sandra Dee (Kate Bosworth), whom Bobby wooed with his charm and then drove to drink with his self-aggrandizement. Spacey, also serving as director, is just as gleeful spinning through all the trauma of Darin's tragic life, from his childhood rheumatic fever to the revelation just before he died at age 37 that his mother (Brenda Blethyn) was really his grandmother.

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