There are some things they really don't deal with... But you'll have Beach Boys songs playing in your skull for the rest of the week, and there was a lot I didn't know, not being a rock 'n' roll fan. A good film, no question.

Full Review | Jun 14, 2024

The family dynamic is what I found the most interesting... All of that stuff I found to be new and utterly fascinating.

Full Review | Jun 14, 2024

Marshall does pretty well at capturing the paradox of a band whose popular image stands almost in opposition to their greatest musical achievements.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jun 13, 2024

It brings you (almost) endless summer.

Full Review | Original Score: 3 1/2 stars | Jun 7, 2024

More whitewash than surf’s up, but as a document of the creative process, this music biopic is illuminating.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 6, 2024

This is an interesting documentary seemingly made by fans (directors Marshall and Zimny) for other fans, but it isn't likely to appeal to those unfamiliar with or indifferent to the band.

Full Review | Jun 5, 2024

A documentary that’s more of a celebration rather than an examination of the band that personified the California dream, but it’s well done for what it is: a heartfelt tribute to one of the most beloved and iconic pop music bands in history.

Full Review | Jun 4, 2024

The Beach Boys is a journey through the ups and downs of the most emblematic vocal pop group in the United States, “America's band”, and about their complications, which were many, and not all of them are told in detail. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Jun 3, 2024

It is, in short, a didactic work, that's neat, complacent, and in some moments funny or emotional, and only serves as a general regard... [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 3, 2024

Yes, it’s very by-the-numbers, but it’s still interesting to see how a band can build and rebuild its identity.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | May 30, 2024

In this watchable but routine overview of the classic California band made up mostly of relatives, the more uncomfortable-making elements about the group get addressed rather than explored.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | May 29, 2024

It’s a strange lasagne of wonderful, mad musical moments and inexplicable talking heads (Janelle Monáe - why?) all deliciously poisoned by the seeping resentfulness of Wilson’s cousin Mike Love, who says it is unfair Wilson got all of the “genius label”.

Full Review | May 29, 2024

“The Beach Boys” is a breezy CliffsNotes version of the band’s ups and downs and cultural relevance and should interest established fans — even if they know it all already — and younger music enthusiasts who are looking for a window in.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 29, 2024

Yet the tone is almost relentlessly upbeat and reverential, drawing on glorious music and brilliantly curated and edited archive footage to put a positive spin on events.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 28, 2024

The Beach Boys dutifully fills out the arc of the band’s six-decade career, with a welcome and pointed emphasis on the beauty and simplicity of the songs they made together, back when the good vibrations were all that mattered.

Full Review | May 28, 2024

Taken together, the documents have a chance of re-creating what Endless Summer, the group’s ubiquitous greatest-hits collection, did in 1974 and beyond: Introducing the music of the Beach Boys to a new generation of fans. Not a bad result.

Full Review | May 28, 2024

I wondered how, exactly, the movie was going to pack the Beach Boys’ vast career into an hour and 53 minutes. But in its unabashedly conventional and fan-friendly way, it brings this off with a tasteful clarity and showmanship.

Full Review | May 28, 2024

A good vibrations musical documentary on the legendary American band.

Full Review | Original Score: B | May 28, 2024

Ardent fans of the band will learn nothing new from The Beach Boys documentary, which plays it safe but is a very good introduction for viewers who don't know much about the Beach Boys. The movie's ending scene indicates a better story could've been told.

Full Review | May 26, 2024

A fresh rock-doc approach for a band that defines fresh ... directors Zimny & Marshall ride the up/down waves in the band's life, & within that yo-yoing are mental health problems, loss of popularity & a karma called ENDLESS SUMMER. Good Vibrations.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | May 26, 2024