The Big Picture

Heartfelt interviews with Brian Wilson & Al Jardine provide vulnerability & honesty from The Beach Boys.
The documentary is a love letter to Brian Wilson’s genius and celebrates the band’s iconic sound.
The film is entertaining with a great soundtrack, but lacks depth in covering the band’s later years.

As an unabashed fan of the iconic band, it’s more than safe to say that I was highly anticipating The Beach Boys documentary. Rock docs have become increasingly common in the streaming era, and while a fair share of films feel too sugary and superfluous, you can at least expect to hear some great tunes. It was only a matter of time before the Southern Californian band got an official documentary of their own, especially considering their increasingly fascinating history.

While the incredibly underrated biopic Love & Mercy gave us an inside look into the mind of Brian Wilson, both in the ‘60s and the ‘80s, this documentary follows a much more traditional format. Frank Marshall & Thom Zimny’s new doc recounts the rise of the iconic music group, the creation of the masterpiece known as Pet Sounds, and what led to their devastating split. Anyone who knows anything about The Beach Boys likely raised their eyebrows when they learned that the ever-polarizing Mike Love would be highly involved in the film, although it’s hard not to be excited about something new coming from one of the greatest American bands to ever take the stage.

The Beach Boys (2024) The Beach Boys is a celebration of the legendary band that revolutionized pop music, and the iconic, harmonious sound they created that personified the California dream, captivating fans for generations and generations to come.Release Date May 24, 2024 Cast Brian Wilson , Mike Love , Al Jardine , David Marks , Bruce Johnston , Janelle Monae , Ryan Tedder , Don Was

‘The Beach Boys’ Doc Is Enjoyable, Despite Playing Things a Little Too Safe
The Beach Boys have a vast history, one that can be stretched out far beyond this movie’s nearly two-hour runtime. For the majority of the film, this doc is highly entertaining and heartfelt, particularly in the moments where it allows the band members to get vulnerable in their interviews. It’s hard not to shed a tear when seeing Al Jardine speak about his friendship with the Wilson brothers or during the brief but exceptional interview with Brian Wilson in modern-day. Other moments where the musicians talk about how their initial jealousy of The Beatles led to some of their greatest work also feel much more humbling.

It’s true that documentaries like The Beach Boys can often feel very sanitized, wanting to portray their subjects as saints who have never held an ounce of cynicism towards anyone or anything. Many of the interviews with Love do exert that feeling, including a moment where Love practically claims that he saved the music group. Other moments feel more raw and honest, including a moment where Love talks about some of his regrets as to how things went down between him and Brian Wilson.

Throughout the documentary, you can’t help but wonder if Dennis Wilson’s interactions with Charles Manson will be brought up, especially since this is a Disney+ original. Manson and Dennis’ awkward relationship is discussed but not until the documentary’s last half-hour, where Brian and Love’s legal battles, Dennis and Carl Wilson’s deaths, and the band’s string of flops are also touched on, but glossed over. That isn’t to say that the documentary sidelines every single story that may be perceived as too dark, as the abuse the brothers suffered at the hands of their father and manager, Murry Wilson, is given some time in the limelight, as well as talking about Murry’s abusive upbringing.

The main fault of The Beach Boys is that as extensive as the film is about the first decade and a half of the musicians’ careers, the finale feels rushed and dissatisfying, outside of one heartfelt moment towards the end that you’ll just have to see for yourself.

‘The Beach Boys’ Doc Is a Love Letter to Brian Wilson’s Genius
Image via Disney+

While it is insanely easy to nitpick many of Love’s interviews throughout The Beach Boys, the documentary, at its very core, is a love letter to Brian Wilson’s genius and the unconventional way he created his art. However, the film never goes too in-depth about the creation of albums either, such as the unfinished album Smile, whose development could have been an entire documentary itself.

Make no mistake, this documentary brings up Love and Brian’s complicated relationship, but the filmmakers feel much more inclined to have the movie serve as a celebration rather than a tell-all. That’s not a bad thing. The Beach Boys’ discography is like a soundtrack for the summer season. After all, is it Memorial Day without the smell of barbecue and “Don’t Worry Baby,” playing in the background? This documentary is just like that, for fans like myself, you are not going to learn much new about the band, but the energy the movie exerts is hard to resist.

Image via Redferns

Outside of interviews with the surviving band members, the documentary also features conversations with artists such as Janelle Monáe and OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder. While both of these interviews do a good job of explaining how The Beach Boys’ work influenced their music, the information itself doesn’t add anything to the documentary as a whole. Monáe’s presence is too brief to add an impact to anything and Tedder’s stories just don’t have as much of a connection to the documentary’s themes. Only Lindsey Buckingham and Don Was’ interviews add genuine insight to the film about the band’s reach across the world and how they were introduced to the music industry.

There was a lot of potential for the first fully authorized documentary on The Beach Boys and while there were some elements here that left me disappointed as a lifelong fan, I still found myself to be constantly entertained throughout. Dealing with Love’s hyperbole was inevitably going to be present regardless, especially because you can’t fully tell the story of the band without him. The actual missed opportunity was for this new documentary to say something new, at least for those mega-fans. For those who simply enjoy the work of The Beach Boys, this will easily be far more enjoyable and entertaining. For viewers like me, it’s a good two hours where you can just sit back and enjoy the music.

The Beach Boys (2024) REVIEWWhile hardcore fans won’t learn anything they didn’t already know, ‘The Beach Boys’ documentary is a perfectly entertaining love-letter to the SoCal band.ProsThere are several heartfelt interviews with Brian Wilson and Al Jardine.The soundtrack is, as expected, a collection of some of the music group’s best.The Beach Boys themselves are allowed to be vulernable and honest in their interviews. ConsA little too much Mike Love.The documentary barely touches upon The Beach Boys’ later years.

The Beach Boys is now available to stream on Disney+.

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