Jersey Boys fails to put a fresh spin on an old story, writes Christine Powley.
Director: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Vincent Piazza, John Lloyd Young, Michael Lomenda, Erich Bergen, Christopher Walken, Renee Marino, Mike Doyle, Donnie Kehr
Rating: M
3 stars out of 5.
Mamma Mia! was a stage musical that proved people would pay to see a production featuring well-known songs. But ABBA is not the only hit machine around and plenty of producers have been humming through their back catalogues to cobble together a show.
Bob Gaudio, who played keyboard in the Four Seasons and wrote the songs, was on to it early and with producer and lyrist Bob Crewe put together the stage show Jersey Boys. Clint Eastwood hired most of the stage performers and put the show on film. But, unforgivably, Jersey Boys (Rialto) is interesting without ever becoming emotionally engaging.
At its heart should be Frankie Valli (John Lloyd Young), a little guy with the magic voice, but the movie keeps him at one remove. The other members of the group all give us straight-to-camera monologues putting forward their individual slant on events, but Frankie is too wrapped in his own thoughts to share with us.
Anyone who has seen a showbiz biopic knows how these things go: the long struggle for success, the joyous string of hits and then the payback when the compromises you made return to spit in your eye.
Jersey Boys is no different and it never quite manages to put a fresh spin on an old, old story.
Best thing: The music carries this along. Even when the film track is not the best, the memories of how Frankie sang it are strong enough to compensate.
Worst thing: The stage show may have been fantastic but it never adds up to a real film experience.
See it with: Anyone who thinks the music industry is American Idol. At least this shows the hard graft of life on the road.
