Jersey Boys (2014)

• Year: 2014
• Released: 20 Jun 2014
• Country: United States
• Adwords: 4 wins & 2 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1742044/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/Jersey_Boys
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/jersey-boys
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English, Italian, French
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Biography, Drama, Music
• Runtime: 134 min
• Writer: Marshall Brickman, Rick Elice
• Director: Clint Eastwood
• Cast: John Lloyd Young, Erich Bergen, Michael Lomenda
• Keywords: biography, based on play or musical,

	6.8/10
	54/100
	51% – Critics
	62% – Audience

Jersey Boys Storyline

The rise and fall of the original formation of The Four Seasons, comprised of Tommy DeVito (Vincent Piazza), Nick Massi (Michael Lomenda), Frankie Valli (John Lloyd Young), and Bob Gaudio (Erich Bergen), is presented. Their story as a collective begins in 1951 in a crime-ridden neighborhood in Belleville, New Jersey. For boys, in general, to get out of the neighborhood, they either have to join the Army, get mobbed up, or become famous. Tommy and Nick try options two and three, they, who perform in a combo with Tommy’s brother Nick (Johnny Cannizzaro) when they aren’t committing petty crimes, into which they began to pull impressionable sixteen-year-old Frankie. Frankie, with his distinctive tenor voice which places him in the good books and heart of local mobster Angelo “Gyp” DeCarlo (Christopher Walken), already dreamt of stardom, which didn’t seem to be happening. Tommy decides to let Frankie front the band for their mutual benefit. With Nicky no longer involved, Tommy, the de facto group manager, knows they need a fourth to move to the next level. That fourth ends up being songwriter Bob, who, against Tommy’s wishes, would only collaborate with the group as a full partner, as opposed to a paid contractor as Tommy wants, he not wanting the addition of a keyboardist within their pure guitar sound. Bob’s primary want to join the group is to write songs specifically to showcase Frankie’s voice. But even to reach the top forty, they learn they need money to make money, which Tommy gets the way he always does without really thinking through the consequences. Beyond those money issues eventually coming back to bite them after they achieve fame and wealth, their differences as people and bandmates will lead to their demise as a foursome. Tommy, the A-personality, didn’t want to cede control as the fame led to an even greater sense of entitlement. Nick always threatened to form his own band when things were going badly, deep in his heart knowing that Frankie, and to a lesser extent, Bob, were the stars. Despite the fame, Frankie could never shake being from the old neighborhood and what that meant, especially in relation to Tommy and Gyp. And Bob, the straight-laced one, only really had his and Frankie’s backs, which fundamentally was against Tommy’s control.

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Jersey Boys Movie Reviews

Expected better from Clint! 4/10

Review: You can tell that this movie is based on the musical, because it doesn’t really go into much depth about the individual band members and I found the storyline pretty sketchy. Clint Eastwood would start an important part of the film, like when Frankie Valli met his wife and then in the next scene they are married without much explanation. That type of thing happens throughout the movie but it is stated that it is based on the musical so I can’t really fault the director. I guess that he was trying to stay true to the musical, which is why he added the dance scene at the end with the whole cast but from a viewing point of view, I was left feeling pretty empty because I’m was sure that there is a deeper story to tell about there life’s. Apart from that, it does show how they come up with some of there popular hits and it touches on how the group got together but it lacked emotion and intense drama. Watchable!

Round-Up: As I haven’t seen any of the main cast in any other movies, I can’t really compare the performances with anything else that they have done, but they did do quite a good job in this movie. Christopher Walken was the only recognisable face throughout the movie and he put in his usual great performance as a mafia boss. He even took to the dance floor at the end, which was quite impressive for a 71 year old. I must admit, this movie really didn’t feel like it was made by Clint Eastwood because of it’s lack of in depth drama which I have got used to seeing from this veteran actor/director. On the whole, it’s a watchable movie because you do see some of the trouble that Tommy DeVito caused the individual band members but it did drag after a while.  

Budget: $40million Worldwide Gross: $67million

I recommend this movie to people who are into their biopic’s about the difficult route to fame for Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. 4/10

A brilliant narration on the true cost of fame and fortune and how pain and loss can conceive everlasting music.

There’s a reason why the 1960s is widely known as the “Golden Era” of music, specifically, the birth of what is now called Rock n Roll. Comprising of four British teenagers from Liverpool, The Beatles produced their first album (Please Please Me) in 1963 and went on to be regarded as the greatest rock and roll band of all time. But just a year earlier, in 1962, four boys from New Jersey made heads turn and girls swoon with a unique ‘sound’ to their music. Jersey Boys is the phenomenal true story of a ‘sound’ that took four boys from New Jersey’s mob controlled suburbs and made them into the icons they are today – legends whose music is still celebrated more than five decades on!

Produced and directed by another living legend – Clint Eastwood – Jersey Boys is a Tony Award winning Broadway and West End musical adaptation of the same name. Scripted by Woody Allen’s Oscar winning collaborate Marshall Brickman (Anne Hall and Manhattan), the story benefits from a deeply dramatized account of the stage production, thus making it a biopic rather than just a musical. This is why the audience has to wait a good hour before Frankie Valli (John Lloyd Young) makes our feet tap to the film’s first real track: Sherry. But before we get to hear Young’s remarkable rendition of Valli’s incredible falsetto pitch, Brickman’s story takes us through New Jersey’s underworld circa. Valli is a good Italian-American kid but his friend Tommy DeVito (Vincent Piazza) is just the opposite. They are both connected to local mobster Gyp DeCarlo (Christopher Walken). Taking Valli under his wing, Tommy puts together a small time band but only manages mediocre returns while also moonlighting as juvenile delinquents. This changes with the arrival of Bob Gaudio (Erich Bergen), a golden goose of a singer- song writer whose epiphany changes the band’s name from The Four Lovers to The Four Seasons. Then, with the addition of bass guitarist and singer Nick Massi (Michael Lomenda), Sherry, their first song as a band, becomes a hit and the group is instantly catapulted into nationwide fame.

By the time we get to the band’s all-time number one hit single, Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, there’s trouble brewing. Domestic heartbreak and tragedy, ego trips and quarrels, financial crises and mob intervention turns cracks into fissures. Reminding us that this is in fact a stage show adaptation, Eastwood creates individual perceptions by allowing each member of the band to narrate his story directly to the camera. While this might seem like a theatre-cinema blending technique (ala Moulin Rouge!), it adds wholesome dimensions as a biography made for the discerning cinema audience. Adding on to that dimension is the juxtaposition of organized crime with the evolution of Doo-wop into rock and pop. In fact, there is a brief reference to Frank Sinatra, who as legendary as himself, was known to have ties with Chicago’s notorious mobster Al Capone. To this effect, the story also includes real life actor Joe Pesci (Joey Russo) as a talent scout who recommends Bob to the band. Synonymous with mobster roles in previous films, Walken himself might seem like a cliché, but instead is entrusted with the film’s humour and he delivers. Characterization from the rest leaves more to be desired. Young as front man Valli and Piazza as Tommy are more theatrical than expected in a film. It’s a different matter when we get to see them perform as musicians – simply astonishing!

That there is no reference to era specific bands like The Beach Boys or the Bee Gees can be another letdown. Instead, Brickman’s script remains parallel to the stage production with emphasis on an underdog rags-to-riches plot arc. Even so, as Eastwood’s first musical adaptation, Jersey Boys has more hits than misses (excuse the pun). Like the Academy Award winning Walk The Line, a lot of focus has gone into the back story by dramatizing the true cost of fame and fortune. Above all, it is a brilliant narration on how pain and loss can conceive everlasting music. And judging from the need to make this film, it’s no surprise that the music of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons will always remain evergreen.

Musical biopic with excellent songs

JERSEY BOYS is another winner from director Clint Eastwood and an adaptation of the popular stage musical about the life and times of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. It’s a lengthy and often slow-moving biopic that takes a long time to get to the fame and fortune of the group in their heyday, yet there’s something engrossing about it all the same. It helps immeasurably that Eastwood is an assured direction who brings a sheen of class and professionalism to all of his films, making this a delight to watch.

Most of the cast members are taken straight from the musical, so their singing is quite wonderful. Their renditions of all the popular hits are quite amazing, particularly the power house climax which is incredibly moving and perfectly performed. The ending credits, in which the whole cast provide an encore in the classic musical tradition, could easily have been completely cheesy in the hands of a less experienced director but Eastwood makes it work, and then some.

Acting stand-outs are John Lloyd Young as family man Frankie, whose turbulent private life is in contrast to his serene presence on the stage, and Vincent Piazza, delivering a variant on his edgy presence in BOARDWALK EMPIRE. I was delighted to see Christopher Walken cast in support as well. As musicals go, I’m not a massive fan of the genre, but JERSEY BOYS is good enough even for non-fans. Check it out.