Producer-director Clint Eastwood (“Play Misty For Me” 1971) has put together a movie about the musical group the Four Seasons called “Jersey Boys.” This biopic, based on the Tony Award winning musical, does a good job recreating the group’s hit songs but not such a good job with the rest of the project. Bad writing, unorganized directing, and mediocre performances plague this two hour plus film.
In other words, “Jersey Boys” is just plain boring. Thank the uneven direction by Eastwood and a poorly written screenplay by Marshall Brinkman and Rick Elice, who adapted it from the 2004 book they wrote of the same name that the long-running Broadway play was based on. The material from the play did not translate well to the big screen, probably due to Eastwood’s lack of experience with musical material.
The actors also fail to impress. John Lloyd Young, Michael Lomenda, Erich Bergen, and Vincent Piazza turn out subpar performances as the Four Seasons. Ditto for supporting cast members Rene Marino, Katherine Narducci, Lou Volpe, Freya Tingly, Johnny Cannizzaro, and Steve Schirripa. Christopher Walken is the only actor to be commended for his role as Gyp DeCarlo. However, this is a run-of-the-mill godfather role, in which he gives us echoes of past performances, heavily relying on the New York accent.
And finally, maybe the director’s daughter, Francesca Eastwood, who has a small part as a waitress, could have a bright future in the picture business. But probably not.
“Jersey Boys” barely made a profit at the box office, not exactly music to the ears of Clint Eastwood’s production company, Malpaso Productions, and Warner Bros. Pictures.
Jersey Boys (2014)
cinema
My Review
Producer-director Clint Eastwood (“Play Misty For Me” 1971) has put together a movie about the musical group the Four Seasons called “Jersey Boys.” This biopic, based on the Tony Award winning musical, does a good job recreating the group’s hit songs but not such a good job with the rest of the project. Bad writing, unorganized directing, and mediocre performances plague this two hour plus film.
In other words, “Jersey Boys” is just plain boring. Thank the uneven direction by Eastwood and a poorly written screenplay by Marshall Brinkman and Rick Elice, who adapted it from the 2004 book they wrote of the same name that the long-running Broadway play was based on. The material from the play did not translate well to the big screen, probably due to Eastwood’s lack of experience with musical material.
The actors also fail to impress. John Lloyd Young, Michael Lomenda, Erich Bergen, and Vincent Piazza turn out subpar performances as the Four Seasons. Ditto for supporting cast members Rene Marino, Katherine Narducci, Lou Volpe, Freya Tingly, Johnny Cannizzaro, and Steve Schirripa. Christopher Walken is the only actor to be commended for his role as Gyp DeCarlo. However, this is a run-of-the-mill godfather role, in which he gives us echoes of past performances, heavily relying on the New York accent.
And finally, maybe the director’s daughter, Francesca Eastwood, who has a small part as a waitress, could have a bright future in the picture business. But probably not.
“Jersey Boys” barely made a profit at the box office, not exactly music to the ears of Clint Eastwood’s production company, Malpaso Productions, and Warner Bros. Pictures.