Steve Reviews Jersey Boys

What do the following things have in common: Clint Eastwood, the Mafia, Broadway, Joe Pesci, and 100 million record sales? Jersey Boys was released on June 20th, directed by the first and chronicling the last. Based on the hit Broadway production (of the same name), it's a cinematic "Behind the Music" for the second-best selling American vocal group of all time, Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons. (Sorry, Beach Boys, you'll have to get your own movie)

Eastwood has shown that his days behind the camera are far more beloved (by his fans, his bank account, and his mantle) than those in front. With serious hits in Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, and Unforgiven – to name a few – it surprised many that he would undertake the screen adaptation of a Broadway musical. A) musicals aren't really in fashion anymore. B) he's Clint Friggin Eastwood. C) adaptations are tough to pull off without upsetting someone.

So, how do we make this equation successful? Start by having the folks who wrote the musical write your screenplay. Yes, that'll do quite nicely. Surely those folks know what they're writing about. They did it once already. Just make a few elaborations here, add some cinematic magic there, and we're in business. Second, hire people who starred in the musical to star in your film. John Lloyd Young not only originated the role of mobster-turned-crooner Frankie Valli on Broadway, but he won himself a Tony award (the stage version of that statue we so badly covet on this site) for Best Actor in a Musical. Third, have your story be a dramatized version of real musical events and don't include any original new music. Ok, I'll say it. I can't stand when filmmakers try to spice things up by adding "just one new song" to the musical adaptation. When you have a band like The Four Seasons as your composers, you just don't need it. So thanks, Clint, for not adding any. Hits like "Sherry," "Big Girls Don't Cry," and "Walk Like a Man" stand on their own merit and will leave you singing the whole way home. Dare I suggest you're singing one now?

The movie itself is solid. It tells the basic story of how this group came to be, came to be on top of the world, and came to dissolve before our eyes. It utilizes an odd style of narration by the characters themselves (breaking the 4th wall). It's anooying at first, but it becomes more acceptable as each person tells part of the story through his eyes. Clearly a broadway move, and not the easiest to-screen trick to pull off, but I guess it worked.

It's hard to say if Jersey Boys will have legs til award season, though. The cinematography is that muted, 50's look that could stick in some minds. I don't recall any breakout acting performances that warrant attention at this point. Although, some Academy members seem to think that being able to sing makes you a good actor worthy of inclusion at the big kid's table. This is not the case. He already won for his singing, and I don't buy that this Frankie Valli is Oscar-worthy. Clint could see some love. He is an Academy darling now, after all. If it comes to November, and no other directors take a step forward, the director's branch could invoke the Meryl Streep Clause and include him. It wouldn't surprise me in the least.

Oh yeah. That Joe Pesci thing. Turns out he was the guy who introduced Valli and his two bandmates to Bob Gaudio – who after joining the band and thus becoming The Four Seasons, wrote all those hit songs. Joe Pesci basically created the group. Someone should give HIM an award.

-Steve
7.2.2014