Young John Lennon is the 'Nowhere Boy'

The really spectacular screen biographies - "Amadeus," or "Lawrence of Arabia" - would have been great films regardless of subject. And some of the best have been about personalities whose fame was eclipsed by their movies: Why do we remember Clyde Barrow or Jake LaMotta? "Bonnie and Clyde" and "Raging Bull."

John Lennon doesn't need "Nowhere Boy," and viewers of this Sam Taylor-Wood-directed British drama will be aware at all times that the reason they're watching is Lennon. The story is well known to fans: The Beatle-to-be, born to an unstable mother, was raised by his Aunt Mimi and the resulting maternal conflict influenced his life and musical career. Despite a couple of first-rate performances - Kristin Scott Thomas as the painfully self-contained Mimi, and Anne-Marie Duff as the unpredictable Julia - Lennon fans will feel more duty bound than swept away. Others, if there are any, might not care much at all.

Aaron Johnson ("Kick-Ass") makes a believable John - he's arrogant, caustically witty, even quasi-sadistic toward those around him. While this may be accurate (Lennon himself admitted as much), it doesn't make for an endearing portrayal. There's a convincing physical resemblance between Johnson and his character, and the hair, glasses and physical attitude help create the proper portrait of the larval genius, coming of age during England's protracted postwar period of shortages both material and cultural. The latter would be changed by Lennon and his colleagues (Thomas Brodie Sangster is terrific as the barely pubescent Paul McCartney), but "Nowhere Boy" is basically just another story about troubled youth. Despite its rather exalted historical pedigree, it doesn't really swing like it should.