Melodramatic, gloomy and moody, Jersey Boys disappoints

Rating: 5/10 (23 June 2014)

Jersey Boys tells the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons as they shot from neighborhood kids to super stars with perfect voices. This a been there, done that affair that rarely catches your attention. Outside some very well acted scenes with Christopher Walken and classic Eastwood framing, Jersey Boys is nothing more than a failed musical adaptation for the big screen. To start, the actors all come from the stage and carry that style of acting to the big screen. Everything is bright and bold in their performances, and the film's cinematography paints a rather dull and dreary sense of reality. The cinematography, while fitting for a thriller of some sorts, its wildly out of place here. That heavy white lighting, foggy filters, that dreadful sensibility we saw in Hereafter and J. Edgar are all carried over into Jersey Boys? It doesn't fit, not in the very least. As far as this being a Clint Eastwood directed picture, it is surprising considering this is just plain and simple, not a good film. Eastwood can definitely direct, we've seen proof of this as he has delivered some instant classics our way...however, Jersey Boys is one of his lesser films. Quite frankly, if this is one of his lesser films, that's okay because this film is far from a train wreck. There are things to like here, some humor sprinkled about and some decent drama keep this from being a total wash up but overall, is this the film everyone wanted it to be? Not by a long shot. The film feels long and under cooked and never really goes to where Dreamgirls or Rent took us. Jersey Boys is not a great film, it is barely even decent but if you are a fan of the Broadway musical, you may let it slide.