Starring: John Lloyd Young, Vincent Piazza, Erich Bergen
1950's New Jersey and a young man by the name of Francis "Frankie" Castelluccio is looking to make his break as a singer whilst working in a barber shop and helping his friends Tommy (Piazza) and Nick (Johnny Cannizarro) commit petty crimes. Together they form a musical group, pushed into the limelight by Frankie (nown with the surname, Valli) and his falsetto vocals. With the addition of Bob Gaudio (Bergen) they become The Four Seasons and take the pop charts by storm.
Having been a big hit on stage, it was probably inevitable for Jersey Boys, the musical based around the work of The Four Seasons to come to the big screen. Of note is the surprisingly high-profile addition of Clint Eastwood as director. Of course, amongst his filmography as a director, Eastwood has made a series of films that involve early-to-mid twentieth century America whether it be The Changeling (about a disappearance case in the 1920's) Flags Of Our Fathers (a World War II film) or J. Edgar (about the infamous head of the FBI). Now, Eastwood is venturing towards the 60's, but it still fits in that mould especially with the trademark muted cinematography of Eastwood regular, Tom Stern.
Those previous films weren't musicals and, really, Jersey Boys is really only marginally within that genre. Of course there's music, but rarely is it more than a verse or a chorus of something, really inviting comparisons with the likes of The Doors than Across The Universe. Eastwood does however let stylisation take hold every once in a while though. Often a member of the group will break the fourth wall and speak to the audience, usually during a number. It's a fine idea, but the balance in volume is off and the music can get in the way of what's being addressed.
The songs however are fantastic. Of course, it's The Four Seasons so you get renditions of "Walk Like A Man", "Sherry" and "Big Girls Don't Cry" and they're all performed to a intensely close degree of the original recordings, so much so that it actually sounds almost like the real thing. The performance of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" may be the best version of the song I've ever heard.
The problem resides in how it approaches the story. As I've written, the film is not really a musical, it's a drama but the film is the length of a musical at almost two-and-half hours. It wants that same razzmatazz extravaganza and what we get is a drama that comes off at times as rather baggy and probably would've been a svelte two hours and whilst the source material itself isn't a musical, it would've been interesting to put a more theatrical slant on it. It's really over the closing credits that we get a big musical number but many of the cast members are clearly comfortable in that medium, including Christopher Walken (a song and dance man originally, whose skills that arena have been showcased in Hairspray and the music video of "Weapon Of Choice" by Fatboy Slim).
Still, it's a film that loves show business. There's a flamboyant edge and there are nods towards pop culture. "Big Girls Don't Cry" is inspired by the guys watching Ace In The Hole. Joe Russo plays one of the group's friends in their early days, a young pre-fame Joe Pesci, even throwing in a quick nod to his iconic turn in GoodFellas and Clint Eastwood himself even makes a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance. The film covers dramatic, even tragic, ground and the tough almost Scorsese-esque aura gives a unique flavour but those expecting a zippy roller-coaster ride through the best of The Four Seasons may be disappointed.
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