Jersey Boys (2014)
Certified: 12
Duration: 134 minutes
Directed: Clint Eastwood
Starring: John Lloyd Young, Vincent Piazza, Michael Lomenda, Erich Bergen, Christopher Walken, Renee Marino, Mike Doyle, Barry Livingston, Freya Tingley, Erica Piccininni, Donnie Kehr, Joseph Russo.
KRS Releasing Ltd
Veteran director and actor Clint Eastwood delivers his first-ever true and proper musical with Jersey Boys. The film is an adaptation of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical about a 1960s band called The Four Seasons.
The film opens in the 1950s in a New Jersey barbershop where the owner’s son, 16-year-old Frankie Castelluccio (John Lloyd Young), has quite a talent for singing. We find him taking care of Mob boss Gyp DeCarlo (Christopher Walken).
Tommy DeVito (Vincent Piazza) breaks the fourth dimension and informs the audience that to make something of themselves, youths at the time had three choices: join the army, join the Mob or get famous.
In subsequent events, DeVito and Castelluccio take part in a heist that goes wrong and DeVito ends up in prison. This is how the band The Four Seasons forms.
Castelluccio changes his name to Frankie Valli and DeVito’s friend, Nick Massi, is brought in on bass. They join up with songwriter Bob Gaudio (Erich Bergen) and talent scout Joe Pesci (Joseph Russo).
A meeting with producer Bob Crewe (Mike Doyle) bears fruit and they soon escalate the charts and go on live television. But after reaching success, the group is caught in a spiral of problems, not least of which are the internal fights and also the Mob connections.
Eastwood directs the film in a very nostalgic manner and with a reverential tone, especially in the characterisation of Valli. He delivers a traditional-looking film that could be seen as an ode to the film-making style of Martin Scorsese.
The director also does the unusual thing of casting some of the stage actors of the Jersey Boys musical, with Lloyd Young fitting well on the silver screen in the role of Valli. The director also keeps the colours subdued, which is very unusual in a genre that is known for its colourful extravaganzas.
In a nutshell, the film depicts the typical rise and fall of a rock ’n’ roll hero. The focus is on two aspects: the songs, of which there are aplenty and which are churned out in a jukebox manner, and the relationships that are built and dismantled by the members of the band.
As directed by Eastwood, the film is very similar to the stage musical experience. He does not use much camera gimmickry. Even the way the actors deliver the performances, such as that by the excellent Christopher Walken, they seem to be playing their role live on a stage rather than in front of a camera.
Everything is kept simple as Eastwood seems to want to let the music do the talking.