The Beach Boys (2024)

Dir. Frank Marshall and Thom Zimny

In this documentary’s defense, it has a lot to balance with a band whose fairly confused history is uniquely hard to tell, at least in this format. First off, despite his five seconds in the beginning, it acts like Brian Wilson is dead through the lack of any modern-day interview footage. To be fair, there’s not much the filmmakers could’ve done about that considering Brian is not exactly "all there" anymore, unfortunately, so I recognize how that’s a bit of an unescapable issue. But again, the whole film has this strange combination of celebratory anecdotes and depressing conflicts, which muddles the tone. Of course, any documentary that doesn’t over-sanitize its subject has to deal with this. But, to be perfectly honest, when the film ends, it feels like The Beach Boys were ultimately a failure. This clearly isn't the case because they’re one of the most successful recording groups of all time, but that doesn’t stop the fact that this film’s weird uncertainty with how to approach their (commercial) downfall in the ‘70s made the story fall apart in the last half hour or so.

I would’ve liked to say that we now have a definitive documentary about the Boys that spans their career but that’s not the case. And, to over-clarify once again, I don’t think that’s even possible to do with a documentary. Past documentaries have focused primarily on Brian so I do understand why this stab at their story took an approach that was more inclusive of the other members. It’s hard to understate how important Brian was to the band’s success and the film highlights this a good amount, especially in the portions about their early years, but it doesn’t take long for the film to become fairly repetitive in explaining their ups and downs, and it ultimately has the depth of a press release. This makes sense since their story has basically come to a close (besides their live shows), but still, just as Mike Love said he was the joyful collaborator to the more melancholy Brian, I think the film needed to delve into their more artsy side, despite the film’s goal of highlighting the “good times." It's mentioned that the band wanted to change their image but the film feels as hostile to that concept as the record labels.

The film doesn’t chronicle The Beach Boys’ whole career; it’s a baseline narrative that will hopefully introduce more people to their music. But to my point, who doesn’t know “I Get Around” or “Good Vibrations”? Or “California Girls,” which the film actually glazes over despite Brian considering it one of his magnum opuses. Again, I get that this is supposed to be a general overview of the band (I keep repeating myself with these “agains,” I know) but, honestly, why do we even need this movie? A common criticism of documentaries is that they can sometimes say less than the subject’s Wikipedia page. In this film’s state, it tells you less than a Google search could provide. It’s basic and that’s what it intends to be, yes, but returning to “Who doesn’t know…”: What is the purpose of talking about their music if you’re not going to go all out? Talk about the weirdness of “Friends.” Talk about “Sunflower” beyond it just being a flop. (So much beautiful music is on that album and Brian was barely even a part of it.) Talk about “Surf’s Up” more than the title being ironic. (Playing “Long Promised Road” low in the background during a voiceover was insulting). For God's sake, an entire three-hour-long documentary could be made solely about the unfinished “SMiLE” project. The narrative ends in 1980, which I understand given the band was never really the "true" Beach Boys after 1977's "Love You," and I would ask, “Why gloss over these parts of their history from the '70s onwards?” but it's clear that the documentary would quickly become bogged down with so much negativity once they got into the reality of the Boys’ history.

Disney Plus’ The Beach Boys not only won’t teach you much but it completely reduces the post-‘60s albums, narrowing the band’s diverse body of work. Whether you watched this documentary or not, if you want to learn about The Beach Boys, just listen to their music and you'll most likely be drawn in enough to seek out the rest of their story online or by reading a book.

Side note: Sorry to make this about The Beatles but I just need to say that I always get so pissed whenever anyone talks about the 1965-67 friendly competition between The Beatles and The Beach Boys and “Revolver” is just ignored. Yes, “Sgt. Peppers” made a bigger splash and fits into the historical narrative better, but to me, “Revolver” is more impressive than “Peppers” and still hasn’t gotten the recognition it deserves as probably the most ahead-of-its-time album ever made.

5/29/24