How could Eastwood mess this up?

Rating: 1/10 (5 April 2015)

I can handle a book to a movie, a play to a movie, a short story to a movie, an opera to a movie, a movie to another movie, name it, I can handle the transition. I can overcome high expectations brought on by great original source material - like Jersey Boys on Broadway to Jersey Boys the film. What I can't handle is phenomenal (Jersey Boys Broadway) to mediocre (Jersey Boys Movie). The first hour and forty-five minutes of the screenplay is a word for word adaptation from the play. Not a problem. There is original writing surrounding Frankie Valli's daughter, Francine, which was necessary and well done. The treatment used on Broadway for this plot point would never have worked on film. And with this original writing, you get to see Young, as Frankie, display some impressive acting chops in the diner scene. Then, sadly, when he gets the "death call" the directing and editing of this pivotal scene is ham handed and blunt and the scene fall flat on its face. It could NOT have been handled worse; from the awkward staging of the entrances and exits, to the camera angle during the call, and Valli's final awareness of the death of his daughter is chopped off practically in mid sentence.
John Lloyd Young, from the Broadway "Jersey Boys" also stars in the film. His acting ability both on Broadway and in this film (a tricky transition) is amazing. He was powerful in both. His voice, amazing as it can be, has pitch problems, which in a live Broadway show is one thing, in a film it's another. Apparently all the singer/actors in the main roles performed live like, oh what was that movie where they did that, oh yeah, Les Miserable!!! They weren't exactly Russel Crow but post production could have done something about the consistent pitch problems throughout the voices and numbers. In fact the whole "group" never gelled musically once in this film. Their voices don't blend and chords are out of tune everywhere. Then you have the added fatal flaw of Clint Eastwood's unimaginative handling of the storyline and production choices. For God's sake, Lloyd's 70's wig looks like it was stolen from a Vegas Elvis impersonator. Was there no one on the set to say, "Hey Clint, 70's Frankie looks like a cheap Elvis impersonator." These may sound like small things, but it's the plethora of small and big things that just strangles this film in its crib. Eastwood does a face plant with this indestructible blueprint. It's flat, flat, flat. What is this film supposed to be about? Music! But the singing is not good here. The Four Season's music alone starts this film off with an 11 out of 10. By the time Eastwood is done, his -10 handling brings us to 0 and I'm giving it one star out of sympathy for the cast and the music. Who's idea was it to give this film to him???
This nearly word for word screenplay adaptation only works if it's done fast and in your face with quick edits and lots of snark. Here, it just falls flat (there's that word again), scene after scene, line after line. I am willing to bet that Eastwood never even went to see the Jersey Boys on Broadway before he took this project on. It's as if someone handed him the book, he said roll, then said cut, and everyone went home with a check.
If the Broadway Jersey Boys is not accessible to you, and this is the only Jersey Boys you do have access to, I'm not sure that you will gain much from this experience. I saw the original cast on Broadway twice with John Lloyd Wright. He was great both times and he's great here as far as his acting goes. He's not the best "Frankie" I've seen by a long shot. Christopher Walken once again proves that he is better at acting than most directors in charge of him. He's the only one who comes out of this unscathed. He can steal a scene with three words or a look. Brilliant. I've seen Jersey Boys six/seven, times in all. Different "Frankies" different "Tommy's". Every time though, that show blows the roof off the theater. This film just blows. And that's one man's fault, Clint Eastwood. His flat footed handling of a great story, with great talent, and great music doom it from the first frame. You would think it would be fool proof. It's not.