Jersey Boys

Clint Eastwood brings the Tony Award winning Broadway musical “Jersey Boys” to the screen nine years after its initial debut. Starring John Lloyd Young, Erich Bergen, Michael Lomenda, Vincent Piazza and Christopher Walken, the film centers on the formation, success and eventual breakup of the rock ‘n’ roll group The Four Seasons. Each member of the band also takes on the role of narrator at different parts of the film.

Despite its tremendous success as a stage performance, “Jersey Boys” is quite underwhelming as a film. The transition from stage to screen is not as seamless as it could have been, even with its good soundtrack and acting.

Everything and everyone seemed too neat and tidy, which brought the feeling of watching a stage production on a screen. This can be seen early on in the film where mob boss Gyp DeCarlo is getting a shave. But he doesn’t need one as he has no discernable facial hair. Every other character just looks like they walked out of the production too, making them look out of place in a film. Also, the sets were arranged too perfectly. The streets of New Jersey don’t look right and look too much like a backdrop or a set. The snow in one scene also looks incredibly fake and doesn’t act like actual snow. The ending is also extremely out of place. It’s a massive curtain call that would be a great idea to end a stage musical. But not a film.

There’s also some issues with camera work and editing.

While quite a bit of the film is shot well, there were a few times where some of the choices seemed odd or out of place. This is most obvious in areas where the shot lingers too long. For instance, there’s a scene where Frankie (Young) is sitting in a diner. The shot lingers for a little too long before someone else shows up.

On the other hand, the film isn’t all bad. Since it’s based on one of the most influential bands of the 50s, most of the music is from The Four Seasons and songs that aren’t are also from that era. It helps to immerse the viewer in the setting. However, it’s odd that not one other band is even given a mention. Not one person in the film talks about other influential bands of the era like The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Bob Dylan or The Byrds.

And although the production itself seems too clean for film, the acting is quite good, especially with Young, who played Valli on stage as well. He’s good in portraying the guy who sticks out for his fellow bandmates, but can’t stop his relationships from failing. The four also have good chemistry with each other, doing well in narrating their respective parts and portraying the initial excitement in stardom and the eventual animosity.

“Jersey Boys” is fun to watch, but just feels like it should have gone through more changes before coming from the stage to the screen. It could have been much better and is far from Eastwood’s best works.

I put it at #2 in the New Releases Category, but it doesn't pass either edge.