Love & Mercy is a 2014 American biographical drama film directed by Bill Pohlad about the Beach Boys' co-founder and leader Brian Wilson and his struggles with mental illness during the 1960s and 1980s.

Love & Mercy premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2014[6][7] and was released by Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions on June 5, 2015.

After recovering, Brian convinces his brothers Carl and Dennis to let him quit touring with the Beach Boys and instead focus on composition and studio work.

As Wilson's bandmates are left to finish a simplified version of the album, now titled Smiley Smile, he learns that his father has sold the publishing rights to the Beach Boys' songs without their consent.

[24][23] In 2006, the Wilson biopic project was briefly revived, and was to have included involvement from producers Mark Gordon, Lawrence Inglee, Jordan Wynn, and David Leaf.

[44] John Cusack, who plays Dano's older counterpart, was chosen for the role after Pohlad watched Don Was' biographical film I Just Wasn't Made for These Times (1995).

"[46] After being selected, Cusack listened to the 2011 release of The Smile Sessions, enthusing, "You get a portrait of the genius at work at the apex of his powers at the time before he kind of went into the ashes,"[43] and, "It's hard to overestimate his influence on music.

"[48] Cusack elaborated on his experience with meeting Wilson: "When Brian would talk about the younger version of himself, he was completely dispassionate, like it was someone other than him—in a more extreme way than other people look back on when they were 21.

[23] The film's studio depictions strove to recapture Wilson's elaborate recording processes during the sessions for Beach Boys albums Pet Sounds and the unfinished Smile.

[23] Pohlad claimed that they were real sessions with direction largely improvised by Dano, who instructed the musicians based on his impression of Wilson's tone and the way that he worked: "We had two Super 16 handheld cameras going, and for most of that we were just able to grab shots as we would if we were shooting a documentary.

[63] Variety observed that Ross's score "reincorporates snatches of the Beach Boys' effervescent melodies into something that sounds intriguingly similar to Animal Collective.

[64] Pohlad commented on the film's use of original Beach Boys multitrack session tapes, "[S]o much of what developed out of it was based on the ability to get into tracks.

"[47][nb 4] In June 2014, touring Beach Boy co-founder Mike Love reported that Wilson had been in the studio recording music which would be used in the film.

"[70] Consequence of Sound reported that the film recreates "several iconic portraits and moments", including the photo shoot of the band's Surfin' Safari (1962) to the performance of the live album Beach Boys Concert (1964): "These are all handled with the utmost accuracy, seemingly down to the lines in the sand, and that acute attention to detail carries over into just about every other facet of the film.

"[51] Some events in Wilson's life were, in Pohlad's words, "something that seems like a screenwriter made up just to take the easy way out," though he maintains that no "Hollywood touch" was added to the story.

While there was an expectation among the cast and crew that audiences would find elements of the film too outlandish or grandstanding, the decision was made to keep everything as factual as possible.

[76] Other notable real life people who appear in the film – but are given markedly reduced significance – include Wilson's family in the 1960s and Smile collaborator Van Dyke Parks.

[78] Ioncinema ranked Love & Mercy #153 in its list of "Top 200 Most Anticipated Films for 2014" and wrote: "you can be sure that programmers from Cannes to Toronto have already found time to grab a first look.

[88] Co-president of Roadside Attractions Howard Cohen said that it refrained from "rushing" the film for the 2014 awards season: "Pretty early on, we said, 'let's put it in June; let's give it space.

He also addressed comments by Evan Landy that had been published in the New York Post, calling the article "very interesting because you get an intimate look at someone who was with Brian every day for a few years".

"[102] In a late 2016 interview to promote his autobiography, Good Vibrations, he described the film as "a fairy tale" that "should have been done by Disney" and referred to his memoir for further explanation.

[103] Van Dyke Parks, who had not watched the film, expressed disappointment over its alleged omissions and stated: "I've likened the bowed, secco 8th-note cello triplets in 'Good Vibrations' (my idea) to the signature shot of the 'ruby slippers' in The Wizard of Oz.

An audio tape in the Capitol Records' archives reveals my voice [at the session] ... And nothing can explain the number of times one hears 'Count it off Van Dyke.

The website's critical consensus reads, "As unconventional and unwieldy as the life and legacy it honors, Love & Mercy should prove moving for Brian Wilson fans while still satisfying neophytes.

[129] Consequence of Sound said: "Not since Anton Corbijn's Control, his excellent 2007 retelling of the life and death of Ian Curtis and Joy Division, has a biopic felt so authentic and conditional of its own subject.

"[130] The Hollywood Reporter reviewed it favorably, calling it "a deeply satisfying pop biopic whose subject's bifurcated creative life lends itself to an unconventional structure ... [Cusack's] effectiveness [is] limited only by his lack of a physical resemblance to the songwriter.

[114] IndieWire gave the film a B+ and wrote that, while Landy's character lacked depth, "It's fascinating to watch the songwriter dash frantically around the studio, orchestrating a dozen sounds into auditory unity that only he understands.

"[52] An additional review by the publication wrote: "[T]he film has plenty of love and mercy for its subject, but also some edginess, in what is a fascinating look at one of popular music's most important and influential songwriters.

"[115] The publication Biography felt that the film's source material "inadvertently" reiterates plot devices used by typical biopics, and that, "For better or worse, Brian Wilson is suitably charismatic when he's absolutely bonkers and hearing voices, and relatively boring after he's supposedly cured by a new drug regimen and his wife's benevolence.

"[132] Grantland was less enthusiastic, writing that the film's characters were treated too graciously in contrast to Giamatti's Landy, in order for the 1980s scenes to remain interesting; however, the treatment assures that "the 1960s sequences work because they use the musician's damaged psyche as a creative spark", something which Dano excelled at during his performance.