Jersey Boys

                Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons are one of the most memorable and iconic bands in the world of music, and are still recognized to this day for each of their songs. Sure, not everyone knows the band, but they do know the songs. Songs, like “December 1963,” “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Bye Bye Baby,” and “Can’t Take My Eyes off You,” are examples of their most popular hits. Case and point, you’ve heard at least one song from these people, and there’s no denying it.

In 2005, the story of the Four Seasons was turned into a Tony award winning juke-box musical, under the name “Jersey Boys,” which has recently been turned into a theatrical film, directed by Clint Eastwood. The film tells us the true story of Frankie Valli and Tommy DeVito, who grew up on the streets of Jersey, being common trouble-makers, and being regular club performers, with their buddy Nick Massi. When they feel they’re ready to get into the record business, they are introduced to Bobby Gaudio, and the rest of the film shows us the rise and fall of the iconic band through each of their narratives.

What gives this film a unique twist here, is that it’s a biopic first and a musical second; and by that, I mean that it focuses more on the lives and relationships of these characters, and only letting the musical moments happen very little. In fact, I can only think of three or four times when a song was performed fully. It may be different from the typical musical, but I think it seems fitting for this kind of story. People tend to criticize musicals because they often pause the moment for the sake of a song; and while I do disagree with them on it, I can understand what they mean. However, the musical bits in this film do make sense, since it is a film about musicians, and they are performing for a recording, TV, or a local club.

The cast also does fantastic as well, especially since Clint Eastwood knows how to get a good cast going for his films. Christopher Walken has an appearance in the film as Gyp DeCarlo, the real life loansharker who had mob ties with popular singers, like Frank Sinatra. As always, it’s an enjoyment to see Christopher Walken give it his style of acting, and does manage to contribute to the film quite a bit. One thing that really did seem a bit off to me was Joey Russo as Joe Pesci, the one who introduced Bob Gaudio to Tommy and his friends (and yes, it’s the actor, Joe Pesci, we are talking about here); the reason he threw me off, is that I didn't exactly know how to feel about his performance, because he does have a few mannerisms that Pesci is known for, as well as throw in a reference to “Goodfellas” in there as well.

(Fun Fact: Joe Pesci’s character in “Goodfellas” was based on Thomas DeSimone, but was changed to Tommy DeVito, who was also the Four Seasons member and friend of Pesci.)

                While the supporting cast manages to do a good job with what they can do, it’s our main characters that we’ve come to see for the film. They all do magnificently well, and I was especially happy to see that John Lloyd Young still has the same charm and voice that he had, when he first performed as Frankie Valli on Broadway almost ten years ago. However, the one who gave the best performance, in my opinion, was Vincent Piazza as Tommy DeVito. The emotion that you see in his eyes when he’s down in debt shows just how broken he’s been getting during the tour, is definitely one of the most strong-felt performances I’ve seen this year, and I’m hoping he gets an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. I mean, if they can give Meryl Streep and Oscar for “The Iron Lady,” which was a mediocre mess, I don’t see why Piazza can’t get a nomination at the very least for this.

                Overall, “Jersey Boys” is a fantastic film that I had a lot of fun with, and will most likely be on my best of the year list. It really does bug me how this film is getting low press, because this is way better than what most people are depicting it to be (I’m looking at YOU, Kristian Harloff).

Rating: 10/10