Drama, Comedy & Great Songs

Rating: 7/10 (4 October 2016)

The stage production of "Jersey Boys" was highly entertaining because it was slick, well-written and full of humour but its sensational music and fascinating story is what made it a cut above most other jukebox musicals. The well-researched rags-to-riches tale of "The Four Seasons" not only provided an interesting account of the struggles, conflicts and personal problems that the group experienced but also threw a light on their links with the mob, their involvement in petty crime and their on-going respect for the values that they'd learned in the tough neighbourhood where they grew up.
The action begins in the early 1950s in Belleville, New Jersey, where small-time hood Tommy DeVito (Vincent Piazza) recruits barber's son Frankie Castelluccio (John Lloyd Young) into his group, "The Variety Trio". DeVito's pop group plays local bars and also includes his brother Nicky (Johnny Cannizzaro) and his friend Nick Massi (Michael Lomenda). Frankie's exceptional falsetto voice is appreciated by everyone who sees the group (now called "The Four Lovers") and draws a particularly emotional reaction from local mobster Gyp DeCarlo (Christopher Walken) who's moved to tears by Frankie's rendition of "My Mother's Eyes".
When Nicky leaves the group, Tommy's friend Joe Pesci (Joey Russo) recommends singer/songwriter Bob Gaudio (Erich Bergen) as a replacement and Bob, who'd already had some success with his song "Short Shorts", is impressed by lead singer Frankie (who has, by this time, changed his surname to "Valli"). After a period of struggling to get a recording contract, the group (now known as "The Four Seasons") are signed by producer Bob Crewe (Mike Doyle) and have to go through a frustrating period of singing back-up for other artists before finally being able to make their debut single "Sherry" which became the first of three consecutive number one hits. A major problem arises, however, when it's revealed that Tommy owes a huge amount of money to notorious loan shark Norm Waxman (Donnie Kehr) and this heralds the eventual disintegration of the group.
It was vital to the credibility of this movie to have performers who could properly replicate the highly distinctive sound of "The Four Seasons" and to this end, using original Broadway cast members (Lloyd Young, Lomenda and Bergen) was a great decision. They're all convincing in their roles and Christopher Walken was an inspired choice to play the sentimental mobster who provided the boys with some invaluable help when they hit a crisis. Vincent Piazza also adds a lot of spark to the proceedings as the self-destructive group-leader whose attitude to women and propensity to needlessly involve himself in crime are symptoms of his inability to outgrow the values he'd learned during his upbringing.
The script by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice (who wrote the Broadway production) sounds virtually identical to that used in the stage show, so it's puzzling why the impact of the comedy seems more muted and less effective in the movie. Similarly, the musical numbers don't carry the same excitement and energy as they did on stage.
Even with the screen version's flaws, "Jersey Boys" still provides a lot of fun, enjoyable music and drama and the insight it provides into the inspiration for "Big Girls Don't Cry" and the role played by Joe Pesci in forming the group are really interesting (as is the artistic cross-pollination that saw Pesci's character in Martin Scorsese's "Goodfellas" being named Tommy DeVito).