100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 160: Jersey Boys

Director: Clint Eastwood
Genre: Drama/ Musical
Runtime: 134 minutes
Year: 2014
Starring: Christopher Walken, John Lloyd Young, Vincent Piazza, Freya Tingley, Michael Lomenda, Francesca Eastwood, Erich Bergen, Kathrine Narducci, James Madio, Mike Doyle, Billy Gardell, Steve Schirripa, Joseph Russo, Erica Piccininni, Jeremy Luke, Elizabeth Hunter, Steve Monroe, Renée Marino, Lacey Hannan, Donnie Kehr

Description: The story of four young men from the wrong side of the tracks in New Jersey who came together to form the iconic 1960s rock group The Four Seasons.

Review: “Jersey Boys” is based on the life of singer Frankie Valli and his group The Four Seasons. Like the stage version, the story is told in four chapters. Each one of the members tells the story from his perspective. Frankie, whose actual name is Francesco Castelluccio, works as a barber in New Jersey. He has a great singing voice and it doesn’t take long for someone to notice that. With his best friend Tommy DeVito he constantly gets into trouble. Tommy ends up in jail, Frankie doesn’t. Together with Nick Massi and Bob Gaudio they form The Four Season.
The many hits that The Four Seasons had, don’t have the focus in director Clint Eastwood’s film version. Eastwood never goes down the traditional road. For instance “Invictus”, where he uses the rugby world cup to tell the story of Nelson Mandela. And also “Mystic River” and “Million Dollar Baby” managed to be successful this way. In “Jersey Boys” we see how the group comes together, their first steps as professionals. There is no drama there. Frankie’s life is told in warp speed. He meets a woman, the next scene they get married and later we see he has a daughter. Eventually he has three and he has become a bad father, but how and when all that happened is never mentioned.
Eastwood didn’t manage to tell the details of Valli’s personal life, but in that last act he makes up for that a little bit. The screenplay is the biggest miss for “Jersey Boys”. Eastwood has to tell so much, he has no time for it. And the film is over two hours long.
The cast, although mostly unknown, has talent and they really do a good job. The songs are the best part of the film. “Jersey Boys” is a nice film, but the stage version was a lot better.

Rating: 3/ 5