You can take your eyes off of this mediocre musical homage

Rating: 4/10 (10 July 2014)

If you like Frankie Valli and vintage automobiles you might like this movie. That is if you can get past the bad acting, stilted drama, low torque script, and Italian American stereotyping right down to the Martin Scorsese-Nick Pallegi inspired voice over narration that unlike its successful use in GoodFellas just falls flat and undermines whatever drama is to be found in this film as it switches from character to character.
Somewhere deep down there may have been an interesting story here that a better creative team could have tapped into. Perhaps in the collaboration with Bob Gaudio, the impact of the Beatles, the evolution from doo-wop to disco...but inasmuch as any of these conflicts is touched upon its lost in sappy nostalgia.
Its easy to understand why the cast is so bad. First of all it is probably daunting to find a lead who can sing like Valli and capture that personal edge that he still has as performer. Vincent Piazza is all Italian American one-note clichés, Christopher Walken is wasted in a phoned-in performance that is at its best in the song and dance number at the end of the film. The best of the lot is Michael Lomenda who is the only leading cast member to show any kind of real human emotion.