Jersey Boys
A cavalcade of great songs keeps this otherwise lacklustre adaptation from floundering.
Overview
As it is with porn films, the attraction of musicals is rarely 'plot'; instead, it's the music that appeals most (another thing that is, very rarely, a high point in porn). In the musical world there are the dramas (Les Mis), the comedies (Avenue Q, Book of Mormon), the rock operas (Jesus Christ Superstar), the classics (West Side Story, Oklahoma) and whatever the hell Urinetown is.
More recently, though, we've seen another type of musical: 'the jukebox', in which the vast majority of songs (if not all) are taken from pre-existing catalogues (i.e. Mamma Mia). In a genre already light on the plot, these 'jukeboxers' tend to be the worst offenders because whichever 'story' is presented is usually just a threadbare device to get you from one toe-tapper to the next.
Jersey Boys is something of an exception to that rule, because while it does contain a catalogue of amazing old songs, its plot is based on the true story of 1960s all-boy band Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. It's a familiar enough tale: a fledgling group struggles to establish itself in the notoriously fickle music industry, when suddenly - just as all hope seems lost - the perfect combination of singer, songwriter and song ('Sherry') come together to launch the group into stardom. With success comes fame, and with fame, its many pitfalls: affairs, debts and artistic differences, to name but a few.
Jersey Boys is based on the enormously successful Broadway show of the same name, and all but one of its leading men come straight from the stage version (the exception being Vincent Piazza of Boardwalk Empire). It was originally slated to be directed by Jon Favreau (Iron Man), but in the end the role fell to Clint Eastwood, though to watch to film, you'd scarcely know it. The shots are largely static, the colours heavily desaturated and the drama almost non-existent. Somehow, the genuinely interesting story feels decidedly the opposite thanks to the lacklustre direction, and were it not for the songs, there'd be little reason to watch.
Thankfully, the cavalcade of hits in Jersey Boys transforms what would otherwise be a subpar film into one that's a pleasant enough trip down musical memory lane.
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