Jersey Boys (2014)

[K1stpierre]

Discuss

[Webslinger]

The involvement of Clint Eastwood behind the camera for an adaptation of Jersey Boys always looked strange on paper, and it proves to be this adaptation's undoing. I haven't seen the musical, but by all accounts I've heard, it's a true show that frames its story around the music. The movie, unfortunately, is almost the polar opposite, and it suffers for it. It comes alive whenever Eastwood lets down his guard and allows the music to take prominence, but any momentum from those moments vanishes once the proceedings return to undercooked drama that feels as if it's trying too hard to be Goodfellas without the violence. There's just not enough heft to the material to make it work when it tries to be a serious drama, and as a result, it lumbers through most of its very long running time. However, the music is good, and for however many miscalculations Eastwood makes, he earns a small piece of redemption with a medley over the credits that FINALLY embraces the energy and pageantry that should have been in a film based on a Broadway musical all along. Sadly, it's an all-too-short glimpse of what could have been. 

 

C

[Water Bottle]

I was quite literally the only person under the age of 60 in my theater so this looks like a big hit with the generation that grew up listening to the Four Seasons. Sadly, they don't really get a good movie as it tries to cover too many plot-points rather than concentrating on a specific part of the story. Also them talking to the camera never fit in naturally (except for the very end, the only time it worked) and the casting didn't really work for me. Except for Christopher Walken because he's Christopher Walken.

 

C-

Edited June 22, 2014 by Water Bottle

[Webslinger]

Yeah, the fourth wall-breaking was a bit weird from an editing standpoint. Most of the shots have the character who is doing it as the only one visible and looking directly at the camera, yet there are several scenes where a character is the only one in the shot and is looking close to the camera, but not quite into it, and yet he's talking to a character who is offscreen.

 

I really can't emphasize enough that the credits sequence is sadly and frustratingly indicative of the movie that could have been rather than the movie that actually unfolded for most of the two-plus hours of screentime.

[Water Bottle]

Yeah, the fourth wall-breaking was a bit weird from an editing standpoint. Most of the shots have the character who is doing it as the only one visible and looking directly at the camera, yet there are several scenes where a character is the only one in the shot and is looking close to the camera, but not quite into it, and yet he's talking to a character who is offscreen.

 

I really can't emphasize enough that the credits sequence is sadly and frustratingly indicative of the movie that could have been rather than the movie that actually unfolded for most of the two-plus hours of screentime.

 

It was also pointless from a narrative standpoint since for the most part, it didn't add any information we couldn't' figure out on our own.

[DAR]

I was wondering how the story was told would work in the film.  I think it would one of those things that would work better on stage.

[Lazer]

So just go to watch the ending credits? Then you won't be disappointed?

[baumer]

Loved the music and Walken but the film was uneven and even though it was longer than 2 hours, it didn't go into enough detail.

 

6.5/10

[filmlover]

I really loved the show when I saw it a few years ago, and had high hopes for this movie when it was first announced, but it doesn't come close to living up to them. It's not bad by any means, and I certainly enjoyed it well enough, but the end credits sequence is really the only time the movie came alive and what it should've been. Maybe Clint Eastwood was just the wrong director for this. Love the music though (even if the movie barely qualifies as such overall). B-

[Goffe]

Eastwood mostly on autopilot, which shouldn't come as a surprise. 

Edited September 18, 2016 by Goffe