Kate Bosworth and Kevin Spacey in a scene from the film "Beyond the Sea." (Gannett News Service, Jay Maidment/ Lions Gate Films) Beyond the Sea Starring: Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Brenda Blethyn. Director: Kevin Spacey. Rated PG-13: Profanity, innuendo. Running time: 121 minutes. view the trailer | official website For Bobby Darin, performing was his life. He came alive onstage, even when he was near collapse offstage. From the age of seven, Little Bobby knows the odds are stacked against him. Rheumatic fever has permanently damaged his heart, and he's not expected to make it to age fifteen. Bobby's frail heart may be one truth, but his mother Polly, a former singer, introduces her boy to another wonderful truth: music. Music becomes Bobby's bargaining chip against time; he's not only singing, but also playing piano, drums and guitar before he even hits his teens. Music takes him into a world beyond the Bronx, and beyond sickness. It's a world of effortlessly swinging songs, and couples dancing to the lilt of Bobby's voice. Bobby has a plan, and no heart ailment will stop him.

Dec 29, 4:17 PM

Spacey's performance above and 'Beyond'

Actor stars in, directs, co-writes Darin biopic

BY JACK GARNER
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE

The short, mercurial life of Bobby Darin splish-splashes across the screen in Kevin Spacey's "Beyond the Sea," a musical fantasia on the Roman-candle life of a multitalented performer.

"Beyond the Sea" tackles Darin as a Technicolor Hollywood fable.

Spacey directs, plays Darin and sings all of Darin's songs in one of the most ambitious performances of the year.

The basic biographical elements are in place -- Darin (Spacey) is an ever-eager, relentlessly passionate entertainer, driven by a volatile heart condition that promises a short life. He's intensely influenced by his mother (Brenda Blethyn), who believed he could outlive his childhood illness and become a star. And he's equally driven in his romancing of a young fellow star, Sandra Dee (Kate Bosworth).

Although he first makes a name as a rock 'n' roller, Darin soon finds his true calling, as a versatile and compelling nightclub singer in a swinging Sinatra tradition. Before he's through, Darin also experiments with country and folk music and tries acting, even earning an Oscar nomination.

Spacey explores Darin's increasingly complex family life through flashbacks and flash-forwards.

The fantasy-reality blend allows for several entertaining musical segments and also helps to ignore one of the film's major drawbacks -- a 45-year-old Spacey as the 20- to 37-year-old Darin.

Spacey's singing and dancing is first-rate; he achieves his stated goal to create a musical hybrid of Darin and Spacey in filmgoers' minds. Spacey, though, becomes a bit too enamored with his own performance in the film's final reel: He doesn't know why and how to end the piece, presenting an over-long finale that out-stays its welcome by at least two songs.

But that's a minor miscue in a colorful, tuneful entertainment that a tribute to the legend of Bobby Darin and the tenacity and talent of Kevin Spacey.