Review of Jersey Boys (2014) by Clarisesamuels — 24 Jun 2014

In spite of a few cliches and some generalizations about Italian-Americans, not to mention New Jerseyans, this movie is so charming that you are disappointed when it's over. No matter how many times we see the rags-to-riches stories that are so common among celebrities, there is something perpetually appealing about this kind of story─four youngsters who are undereducated, lower middle-class, and bored to the point where committing petty crimes is the most excitement that life has to offer them, realize that they have a uniqeness about them, a spark of genius, that makes them different from everyone else. They put all their money on this one shot in a million, which is that someday they are going to be famous, and that every naysayer who ever dismissed them will live to regret it. And their wildly overconfident predictions then proceed to come true. Not only do they make it big in the music industry, these four kids from Mob-infested Newark, NJ would invent a new sound that would characterize the 60's and early 70's, and they would become the background music for the lives of millions of baby boomers who came of age during that era.

I grew up in northern New Jersey, where most of my high-school friends were Italian-Americans, and hearing the tough-guy Italian dialect and the familiar songs of the Four Seasons made me feel positively nostalgic for the good, old days. There is a spirit to the Italian-American culture that is stoically upbeat (putting aside the criminality of the Mafia). Even if they became plumbers, electricians, hairdressers, and car mechanics, every Italian friend I had was a superstar. They were all talented, whether they knew it or not, and they all saluted life with all its up and downs, joys and tragedies, as something they had to tackle with guts and courage. Nothing could keep them down for long. They were fearless. I don't know if that's what they are like in Italy, but the Italian predilection for romance, family loyalty, and cultural pride combined with American optimism produced a unique culture that thrived in the State of New Jersey. The collective personality of the Four Seasons, a bland American name for such pronounced ethnicity, was a peculiar blend of Italy, the United States, and the working classes of New Jersey.

The film delves into the band's personal story, perhaps not as profoundly as we would like, for the light-hearted influence of the original Broadway musical prevails. But the four actors who portray the original band members, most notably John Lloyd Young as Frankie Valli, are mesmerizing in their perfect imitation of the sound and style of the Four Seasons. And when the four join together to do a few simple side steps in unison while performing on stage, they light up like a magical force of pure music and synchronization. The perfection of the imitation is as riveting as the original.