The Smiley Smile Message Board

it seems like the second part was very, shall I say, half-assed. What should have been done was to divide it into two parts (Pet Sounds through 20/20 and Sunflower through Endless Summer). The second part would be similar to what was in the movie but maybe slightly more in depth concerning Brian's brief time in an institution, and the Wild Honey through Friends albums.

The third part was where a lot was left out IMO. They should have gone more into their personal lives beside Brian's. Maybe talk about Dennis' relationship with Barbara (she supposedly did a decent job of keeping him under control). I also don't recall any mention of Jack Rieley and think they should have mentioned how he steered them in a more progressive direction. The main two problems I had in the movie was 1. acting as if Bruce never left the group and 2. no mention of BC and RF and their stay in Holland. I think the movie also undersold Carl and that early 70s period might have been a good time to give a more detailed insight into him as well as his own descent into drug use. It might have also been a good idea to show more about Brian as something other than a drugged out corpse. Maybe talk about his contribution to American Spring or his conflict of interest with his sister in law.

So do you think this would have been legitimate improvements or do you think the movie was incurable?

Shouldn't have had Parts 1 ad 2!

Or maybe no parts at all, the way it came off.  Maybe some of us are too close to the band and its history as hard-core fans to ever be satisfied, since we immediately see the flaws and the omissions in these things that the casual watcher doesn't have a clue about.

Yeah, but even as just a piece of storytelling, this was lousy.

Yep.