Official Synopsis
“Jersey Boys” tells the story of four young men from the wrong side of the tracks in New Jersey who came together to form the iconic 1960s rock group The Four Seasons. The story of their trials and triumphs are accompanied by the songs that influenced a generation, including “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Walk Like a Man,” “Dawn,” “Rag Doll,” “Bye Bye Baby,” “Who Loves You,” and many more.
Jersey Boys starts off in the most interesting of ways with street thug Tommy DeVito (Vincent Piazza) introducing our main cast of characters in the movie. He breaks the fourth wall and gets right to the goods, explaining how the Jersey neighbor runs, who rules the roost (Gyp DeCarlo — played by Christopher Walken) and what his gang’s main focus in life is going to be — becoming successful singers. He introduces the star in the group, Frankie Valli (John Lloyd Young) and immediately pins him as the singer that is going to create opportunities for the gang.
{media load=media,id=2974,width=720,align=center,display=inline}
If Eastwood wanted an interesting way to crossover the Broadway musical with an onscreen translation, this is probably one of the most creative ways. Breaking that fourth wall is an odd direction to go, though it certainly does make you take notice, and more importantly works here (he does it through out the film). The beginning of the movie, which also shows Frankie Valli getting mixed up with his friend Tommy’s wrong-way lifestyle, is quick and sometimes confusing. While it does firmly identify personalities and how the gang stuck together through thick and thin, it also is flying by so quickly that it was tough keeping up with the players and their purpose.
Shortly after the introduction, the film calms down a bit, gains some focus and firm ground.
Jersey Boys shifts to Frankie Valli climbing up into stardom and putting together a solid group of singers and a great song writer. The movie turns the corner when Bob Gaudio (Erich Bergen) is brought in to help write songs for the boys. His successful writing starts to push the group into fame, with the help of producer Bob Crewe (Mike Doyle). After these two gentlemen permanently stand their ground in the story, we see the rolling success of the group begin to skyrocket, though the success also breeds resentment from Tommy, who begins to not pull his weight and act out against the mission of the gang.
At this point in the film, everything that has happened makes sense. Typically in a ‘success’ storyline like this, there usually is a black sheep that strays from the flock’s mission. It happens gradually and it happens in the right way. It’s interesting how Tommy slowly becomes panicked and disconnected from the rest of the crew. Eastwood and his writers set Tommy up to be limited in his capabilities, thus being less useful when the stakes get higher for the singers/musicians. Tommy is built at the beginning of the film only to go so far, and the film stays true to its commitment to that fact. Resentment or not, the gang pushes forward into more success.
The story hits a high note when the band plays on the Ed Sullivan show, which is a perfect opportunity for a tumble. Before the groups start, they find out that Tommy has been borrowing over $150,000 from a mob and has been taking out money the band was saving for taxes. On top of this big reveal, Frankie Valli’s family life is falling apart, which leads to his divorce with his first wife and his eventual estranged relationship with his kids.
Quite a tumble, though actually reasonable within the storyline. Having that peak and then dip is proper. To keep the movie interesting, you have to throw some adversity into the mix and Eastwood and crew do that perfectly. It’s interesting to see the rise and fall of Tommy DeVito in the group. It’s also necessary, so that the rest of the group can grow-up and out of Jersey, though never forgetting its roots. Tommy has to be the fall guy for that transition in the story to happen, and it’s done beautifully and sensibly.
Having said that, if I have a legitimate complaint about the film at this moment, it’s that we never really get to see Frankie Valli’s home life tumble out of control. Sure it’s a wonderful ‘extra bit of misery’ for the moment to make the story a bit more dramatic, but it’s a bit light in substance. We see Valli and his wife get married towards the beginning of the film, but then there is a large gap in the film that doesn’t really return to the subject until we get to this point in the movie. The divorce moment is shallow at best and his interaction with this kids is on the same level. Movies like this need better transitions for these pivotal character collapses. One of the greatest things (and tragic) about the movie Walk the Line is seeing Johnny Cash’s gradual break-up with his wife. You could see it building during most of the film and you could definitely see the end coming. It was powerful because it was built up. In Jersey Boys, we never see any sort of interaction between Frankie Valli and his wife until their marriage ends. It’s out of place and enormously shallow with no build up to that moment whatsoever.
What’s worse is that Eastwood comes back to Valli’s family during some tragic moments and they come off the same way — just shallow. These moments should be powerful, thought provoking and life changing for the audience (as well as Valli). It never gets to that point and that’s a darn shame. It deserved a bit more time to cultivate and bloom. Maybe it was left on the cutting room floor, who knows. Regardless, it needed more time to build.
Anyway, once the dip of the movie is revealed, Valli does his best to cope, even when the world is falling apart around him. His push to honor his Jersey friendship, but also maintain good business practice eventually pays off and it feels like work getting to that pay off (as it should).
By the end of the film, you should have some new found respect for Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Eastwood did a very commendable job creating that final feeling and pulled it off masterfully. The film certainly isn’t perfect, but it’s a damn good story that gives you some solid perspective on the life of Frankie Valli and his Jersey boys.
As for the Blu-ray side of things, I thought it was a superb HD transfer. Let me compliment director Clint Eastwood on his visual style for the film. He progresses the film’s look and color with not only the time period it’s shot in, but the type of film/television look and feel during that specific time period. For example, the beginning of the film has a heavy amount of black and white tint to it. It’s on the verge of becoming a black and white film, but it never quite gets there. You can see it during the robbery scene at night and it’s a very cool style. As the decades progress, the colors stand out more and more and the HD transfer starts to really shine through. The sixties bring some gorgeous pastels, while the 70s introduce heavy browns, reds and yellows. It’s a really gorgeous cinematography decision and one that works well for high definition. What’s cool about this literal progressive style is that there aren’t any artifacts, no graininess and certainly no compression issues/color banding; it’s simply a gorgeous film on the Blu-ray format. Eastwood and his crew treated the visual quality of this film with high regard. Warner Home Video did a superb job with maintaining that quality.
On the special features side of things, here’s what you’re looking at:
· From Broadway To The Big Screen
· Too Good To Be True
· “Oh, What A Night” To Remember
There isn’t a lot here, but what you do get is some solid value that backs up the film. The first feature, From Broadway to the Big Screen, gives a lot of details into the production and into the Broadway birth of the Jersey Boys. It’s interesting to see how it was born and how it progressed. It’s fascinating material, as is the Too Good to Be True features and “Oh, What A Night” featurette. All of them combined make for some great features. I do wish there was some commentary of some sort, though.
Anyway, if you like the film, then you’ll love the features.
