Casey Affleck appears to chase “Manchester-by-the-Sea” thunder in “Dreamin’ Wild,” an emotionally big, time-flipping, conceptually flawed drama about two brothers, one of whom is a hot-headed, downcast genius. Guess which one Academy Award-winner Affleck plays? Affleck and Walton Goggins are, respectively, Donnie or Don and Joe or Joey Emerson aka the real-life Emerson brothers of Fruitvale, Washington, where they have no internet, but they have heart to spare.
As adolescents, Don and Joe have a studio in the woods and learn to play instruments and make recordings. They live with their hardworking and devout parents on a thriving farm, where the boys are expected to help out. Played, respectively, by Noah Jupe (“A Quiet Place”) and Jack Dylan Grazer (“Shazam!”) as adolescents, the grown-up Don and Joe learn in early middle-age that an album they recorded 30 years earlier in their “work shack” (built by dad), has developed a national cult following and is in serious danger of breaking out into the mainstream.
The film is based on a true story, and the real album the Emerson Bros. dropped was called “Dreamin’ Wild.” Ironically, the brothers were not introduced to rock music until their dad bought a new tractor that had a radio in it. Director Bill Pohlad of the award-winning 2014 Brian Wilson biopic “Love & Mercy” is in familiar territory with this tale of brothers from a close knit family with a dream of becoming a rock and roll sensation. He makes sure that we hear the music, all composed by Don, practiced and performed, a mix of the Beach Boys and troubadours such as Jackson Browne. Back when their father helped them press an album that they and their parents promoted and sold in the community from the back of a truck, they thought they had a shot at making it big. But they didn’t.
Thirty years later, a promoter named Matt Sullivan (Chris Messina) appears on the farm, praising the album and telling Don, Joe, their two sisters and their parents about how in awe he is of their work. It is, sorry, music to Joe’s ears. But for Don the praise reawakens the anguish, self-doubt, anger at Joe for being a mediocre drummer, memories of a youthful love and even more. Don’s wife Nancy (Zooey Deschanel in a semi-thankless role) is his partner in a failing studio and his bandmate in small gigs. She plays bongos, cymbals and tambourine. They have two small kids who conveniently disappear from the film after being dropped off at school. Nancy’s confused by Don’s torment. When Don wants to feel really bad, he goes outside at his parents’ farm to stare at a rusted, metal foreclosure sign. Don’s a downer. But his music is super-romantic, full of country-rock teen yearning, and his and his bother’s growing following inspires the New York Times to send a music writer for an interview.
Matt books Don and Joe (and the rest of their band) a gig at a big Seattle venue. While we hear the band’s on-the-nose “When I Paint My Masterpiece” in the background, Don agonizes. He wants the music to be perfect, even though Joe hasn’t played drums in 30 years. Don remembers a time when the girl he was with as a young man compares him and Joey to the Eagles and a boy in the group quips, “More like the canaries.” After the performance at the Seattle venue,. Don goes off and shouts, “Not good enough.” Written by newcomer Steven Kurutz and Pohlad, “Dreamin’ Wild” falters and falls short of the greatness of “Love & Mercy.” Perhaps, you might just listen to some Beach Boys instead.
(“Dreamin’ Wild” contains mature themes and some profanity)
Rated PG. At the AMC Boston Common and suburban theaters. Grade: B-