Review of Jersey Boys (2014) by Josh H — 23 Jun 2014

For a movie about music, it seemed to have no sense of pacing and rhythm. I found it awfully slow-going and predictable to the point of somnolence. It perked up a bit once the group began getting hits and performing them on Sullivan,etc.

but then I found that I did not like the vocals of the actors. The lead actor was a bit grating actually; he seemed to vacillate between over acting and emitting vocals that kind of made me cringe. Despite Frankie Valli's falsetto, there was a street-grittiness to his voice missing here.

(He also didn't look much like Valli, at least to me.) I sometimes really like Eastwood's movies, but this I didn't connect with much at all. I'd rather just listen to the Four Seasons' Greatest Hits once in awhile.

All the concentration on criminal activity, Mafia ties, jail time, was just a bore. It's hard for me to imagine Frankie Valli being very pleased with this, but boomers may not be very demanding as long as they get to see performances of their favorite Four Seasons songs.

For me, this was more like a tedious hybrid of a Grade B "West Side Story" and oldies night at a Holiday Inn. See the stage show; it's better and concentrates more on the music.