A project which has been close to his heart for many years, Kevin Spacey's biopic of 1950s crooner Bobby Darin finally makes it onto the big screen. The fact that Spacey is eight years older than Darin was when he croaked it, is proved virtually immaterial in his forceful, wildly flamboyant performance. Unfortunately, Spacey's directorial inexperience proves telling, as the film's uneven pacing and sluggish delivery undermines its ultimate impact.
A second hand but effective plot device sees Darin looking back on various stages of his life - from his street urchin beginnings in the Bronx, to his days as a multi-million selling artist, and husband to starlet, Sandra Dee (Bosworth, playing way out of her league). Still, Darin, it is suggested here, had too much life for his sickly frame and heart problems ended his life at the absurdly young age of 37.
Despite sporting a selection of wigs that would do Burt Reynolds proud, Spacey's eagerness to throw himself into the role makes for a refreshing antidote to some of his more recent performances, where the only constant appeared to be the actor's blithe assurance of his own brilliance. Maybe it's the multi-tasking (Spacey even sings) or the fact that he's an inexperienced director, but Spacey is unable to surmount the problems which often blight musical biopic - pacing and the passage of time chief amongst them. His winning performance will probably earn him another Oscar nomination, but little else in the film sits comfortably and there's never a sense of uncovering the man behind Mack the Knife.
