Jersey Boys (2014)

A slight misfire from Clint Eastwood who has directed some excellent films. Don't get me wrong, this was incredibly watchable...just uninspired. Based on the life of Frankie Valli, it is the story on how the rock band 'The Four Seasons' formed. Whilst dabbling in the rise and fall of band member Tommy DeVito, but primarily focused on Frankie. As with most biopics, it is the typical tale of how fame and fortune can corrupt the mind and alter your motives. In this case, this is conveyed through Tommy DeVito who founded the band. But as their popularity increases, his aspirations in life change which may not be for the betterment of the group. The dramatic traits that are embedded into the narrative just work well. The members were emotionally involving and incredibly acted. Considering the majority of the cast were newcomers, it worked in Eastwood's favour. Plus, John Lloyd Young is a revelation. An absurdly talented actor. Eastwood's direction was solid once again as he incorporates some fresh ideas, including letting the characters look at the camera and directly address the audience. I do wish certain aspects of Valli's life were explored more deeply, particularly the death of his daughter. Should've made more of an impact, but instead seemed to have been brushed away as soon as it happens. Then we come to the musical aspect, which just doesn't work. It's not electrifying. It's not uplifting. It's just there. The only time it works is at the end where they are singing in the street. That is what a musical is about! If you are using real songs from a real band, make it the main attraction! Get me standing up and singing the lyrics from the top of my lungs...sadly, it's not executed in that way. So the drama isn't powerful, and the musicality isn't exciting. Watchable, but not very memorable.

Oh what movie. See what I did there. One of The Four Seasons best songs and a nice play on words with it. But yes, this is a good movie. I don't know why it rated so low on IMDb. So here we go to the review.Synopsis: Jersey Boys is a musical biography of the Four Seasons-the rise, the tough times and personal clashes, and the ultimate triumph of a group of friends whose music became symbolic of a generation. Far from a mere tribute concert (though it does include numbers from the popular Four Seasons songbook), Jersey Boys gets to the heart of the relationships at the center of the group-with a special focus on frontman Frankie Valli, the small kid with the big falsetto. In addition to following the quartet's coming of age as performers, the core of the show is how an allegiance to a code of honor learned in the streets of their native New Jersey got them through a multitude of challenges: gambling debts, Mafia threats and family disasters. Jersey Boys is a glimpse at the people behind a sound that has managed to endure for over four decades in the hearts of the public. Starring: John Lloyd Young, Vincent Piazza, Michael Lomenda, Erich Bergen Director: Clint EastwoodClint Eastwood proves yet again why he should never stop making movies. He is a brilliant, brilliant film maker. Just look at the history of this man. He has proved time and again that he is the man who should be asked in the top five directors first to direct a movie. This being his first musical was not a bad venture.One great thing that Clint did was cast people who acted in the musical to begin with. That did nothing but help this movie. The guys who were playing the roles of the Four Seasons played them before, so they knew the material. They already had it in their heads how it should go.I found out throughout the years that most people didn't know that the four guys were connected to the mob in more ways than one. At first, I didn't believe it. Then I looked into the matter. And if it wasn't for the mob, a lot of the musicians out of Jersey wouldn't have gotten any farther than they had. I'm glad that they left that part in. It really is an intricate part to the story.The last thing I need to talk about is the soundtrack. I mentioned it earlier, but these guys singing sounded almost like the real singers. The soundtrack is not the best part, but it is very close to it. Just for the fact of the soundtrack is enough to watch this movie.I strongly encourage everyone to watch this movie. Just give it a try, it will surprise you.Rating: 8 out of 10

First of all, I think you definitely have to be a fan of late 50's (early rock 'n' roll) music to enjoy this movie, as it's centered around the story of Frankie Valli of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. But if you're a fan of this era (e.g., you grew up listening to this music) you likely will also have high expectations - especially for the music.The movie can roughly be divided into two major parts. The first part deals with the rise of Frankie Valli (and ultimately, The Four Seasons). I thought this first part moved rather slowly; there's a lot of "detail" (but not nearly as much detail as what actually took place in terms of members of the group, etc.). If I had to base my review only on the first part of the movie, I'd probably have given it a much lower rating (i.e., a '6').By the second half of the movie, Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons have "made it" and are a big success. But as is often the case, trouble has been brewing all along, and the second half of the movie, which is much better, deals with the how the group handles the inevitable problems behind the scenes. The second half of the movie is very good, and resulted in my ultimate rating of an '8'.As for the music, all the classic songs are there. But, if you're a fan of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, then like me, you may be disappointed in the "quality" of the music - John Lloyd Young's (Frankie Valli) voice isn't on par with the original (but then, whose is? ;-) and the group as a whole doesn't begin to match the sound of the "real thing". I do give the actors credit for re-performing the songs themselves (as opposed to lip-syncing the originals), but still, it's less- than-satisfying.To be fair, in the end of the movie, they do use a few songs (as originally performed by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons) as part of the soundtrack.Once again, you probably need to be a fan of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons to fully appreciate and enjoy this movie. And that also means you probably were a contemporary. The younger generation is probably not going to identify with this era, and hence will have less of an appreciation for the story.

You might think it's quite odd that Clint Eastwood directed a musical this year with 'Jersey Boys', which is an adaptation of the Broadway stage play that is currently the 13th longest running show in history based on the careers of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, but you'd be wrong. In fact, Eastwood is very big in the music scene and always has been. You remember the film 'Honkytonk Man' and 'Bird', don't you, which were both about musicians. And you can add to this the eight films he wrote and composed the music for. My point is that Eastwood is a solid choice for this great musical adapted into a feature film.But the question is , how well does it transfer to film from the stage? Where 'Jersey Boys' the film might lack in the glitz and glamor that you would find on stage, it makes up for in emotional depth as we jump from each point-of-view from each band-member throughout the 134-minute film, which in my opinion was about twenty minutes too long. 'Jersey Boys' has a 'Goodfellas' - light backdrop that follows a young Frankie Valli (John Lloyd Young) getting into trouble with his friends Tommy Devito (Vincent Piazza) and his brother Nick in early 50's New York. They all do odd jobs for the local mob boss Gyp DeCarlo (Christopher Walken) by day and play in a band by night. It seems that everyone in the neighborhood, including the police know who young Valli is and constantly ask him, "Don't you need to be home by 11", when he's out late?At home, his parents are good Italian working class people who have a framed picture of the Pope and Frank Sinatra paired together watching over Valli's every move. With Valli's impressive high pitched falsetto voice, people start to take an interest in their band called 'The Four Lovers' as they are going from lounge to bar to bowling alley, performing their tunes, but they don't seem to be cutting record deals yet. Since the Devito brothers can't seem to stay out of jail for short periods of time, the band takes on Nick Massi (Michael Lomenda) as the bass player and things pick up. But it's when Joe Pesci, yes that Joe Pesci, introduces Frankie, Nick, and Tommy to Bob Gaudio (Erich Bergen), a writer and musician, where the band really takes off. Gaudio previously wrote the hit tune 'Short Shorts' that previous summer, and was known to be a class act. Tommy, the band's self made manager whose temper is fire hot, eventually agrees to bring on Bob, and when they do the hits roll in including 'Sherry', 'Big Girls Don't Cry', 'Walk Like A Man', 'Rag Doll', and 'I Can't Take My Eyes Off You'. All of these were #1 hits and provided the band with big money and concerts, and television appearances.They even changed their name to 'The Four Seasons'. But while the band was doing well, Tommy was secretly spending their hard earned money on gambling and becoming increasingly in debt with the mob. Needless to say, it was a rocky road for 'The Four Seasons', despite all of their money and fame, but all are still alive and well and eventually reunited for their induction in to the music hall of fame in the early 90s. Eastwood did a great job of showing us the more dramatic and emotional moments with each character, followed by a fun and energized scene or two of their big musical accomplishments that actually had people clapping and dancing in sync with the songs throughout the film.And let me also credit Eastwood for hiring Young and Lomenda for these roles, as they were the original Broadway actors for the first run on stage. And they pull it off flawlessly. Young's Valli is pitch perfect and spot on, never missing a beat, while the others fall into place. And Piazza (whose known as Luciano from HBO's 'Boardwalk Empire'), pulls out a great performance as the hot-tempered band-mate, but he gives his character Tommy Devito (Joe Pesci's character name from 'Goodfellas') so much charm and wit, that it's easy to see why Frankie always stood by his side no matter what kind of trouble he got into.However, Eastwood is also known for having a slower-than-desired pacing with his films, and this one is no different. There are a few scenes that could have been cut out that while they offered some emotional depth to some of the characters, they were not given the proper amount of set-up time to make us grieve and didn't go with the basic story he was trying to tell. But other than that, 'Jersey Boys' the film is a solid gold hit. And the end credit scene with the Broadway vibe and dance routine was outstanding. I only hope the younger generation takes to this film and appreciates the music.