Interesting, but not compelling

Rating: 6/10 (25 June 2014)

It's a "good" movie, but it does not "grab" you.
I can't put my finger on why, but the cheesy hair and makeup in the late sequence did not help. It is possible that the on-screen narration actually hurts, in that it might be putting the viewers into documentary-mode, and we no longer live and die with the characters.
The movie also likes to spring stuff on you without laying any foundation. Valli's daughter dies before her "singing" career gets off the ground, but nowhere do we ever hear her sing...The DeVito debt is sprung on us before we have any chance to speculate for ourselves that this might end badly.
Not having seen the stage play, I can't compare, but a movie has more freedom to tell a story.
There IS a story in there somewhere.... This movie may be telling it, but not in a very compelling way. ...