Jersey Boys is a film that knows the music but not the lyrics. There are enough individual aspects that I enjoyed immensely about this biopic to make it sad when the film turns out to be almost completely boring as a whole. Sure, the music is kind of fun but it had the potential to be significantly more bubbly and lively. The acting's really good but it feels as if these actors are still doing the stage play, making the film itself feel too confined. As for the directing... it's alright but if I didn't know going in it was directed by Clint Eastwood, I would have thought some newcomer who didn't know that much about directing was making it. This is not a terrible film per say, it just doesn't have any flavor to it. As written by Marshall Brickman (Annie Hall, Sleeper, Lovesick, Manhattan, Manhattan Murder Mystery...the man can write) and newcomer Rick Elice, it feels like the most standard biopic script that anyone could come up with.
The film follows Frankie Valli (John Lloyd Young) in his early years. He gets into trouble with Tommy DeVito (Vincent Piazza), forms a band with Tommy and his brother Nick (Johnny Cannizzaro.) Later, the band brings in knowing Nick Massi (Michael Lomenda.) All the while, gangster Gyp DeCarlo (Christopher Walken) has Frankie, and the band's back no matter what. I choose to leave the plot description as broad as it is because it's a biopic and thus describing what happens would be describing the self explanatory. There are no surprises here, just standard band gets together and eventually falls apart stuff.
Before I get accused of being someone who simply does not like biopics, let me explain something. I do not think they are generally ever that good. Most of the time, they are too artificial for my taste. However, I will admit before anyone else if a biopic is good or even great. It's just that this particular biopic does in fact follow the major flaw of biopics in that it feels too up its own ass with the subject. I'm not saying that Frankie Valli And The Four Seasons aren't fascinating or influential. In fact, they are both. It can be seen that they are by the fact that a long running, world renowned play has been made about them. However, this film gets through the basics of the band's history and seems to think that they are fascinating enough that all they need are the basics.
This is not true and it makes for a completely overlong two hours and 15 minutes. Also, the breaking the fourth wall/talking to the camera bit should add to the fun but it ends up just feeling like a forced plot point. It also breaks the ultimate rule for me in a film. That rule is show, don't tell and the talking to the camera bit tells a lot of stuff that would be more interesting if displayed. Like I said, the acting is fantastic in a Broadway sort of way but the only actor who stands out is Walken. This is a man who I could watch twiddle his thumbs for days and be completely enthralled through every second. Here, he plays a somewhat goofy gangster who gets down to business when the time calls for it. This is a role that he can do in his sleep by now, which explains why he hands in his best work in years. He's fantastic in everything so it's not like he hasn't had great work in years. However, here he provides a lot of depth as well as great comic relief to a character that could have been underplayed to a detrimentally large degree. Before I go into my final paragraph, I want to inform the reader that I will spoil a good bit of the ending (something I try to never do) to describe why I ended up not liking this film much at all so read at your own risk.
The film ends with with an awards ceremony with Valli and the gang as old men in make up that had at least five people in the theater break out into unintentional laughter. This is followed up by a song and dance number and bow to the audience that really confirmed the non-cinematic feeling of the film and yet was the only genuinely great part. This is because the song and dance sequence was the only completely lively and bubbly part of the film. It showed what the rest of the film should have been and made me wish that I hadn't just sat through 130 minutes of almost entirely boring and extremely tame storytelling. Jersey Boys fails just enough to make me realize all the way it easily could have succeeded and how great it had the potential to be.
(2 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for language throughout)
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