Interesting, fun to watch, but unfulfilling

Rating: 8/10 (19 June 2014)

Clint Eastwood directs a great story on Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons is fun, easy to watch but, after the credits roll, feels ultimately unfulfilling.
The movie has a great pace to it, with the iconic music of Frankie Valli and the era woven in appropriately and well. Where Eastwood falls short however, is in his creation of female characters. Characters that are initially extremely strong and seem to be a large part of Frankie's early life seem to disappear, reappearing only as plot devices. Other female characters that are supposedly to have a large impact on Valli's life (as told through the narration) debut and disappear as well, living out their time on the screen only as background characters that suddenly make impacts on the plot that are larger than the emotional investment that they solicit from the viewer.
About halfway through the film, Eastwood decides to illuminate the darker side of the Four Season's time in the spotlight, but he does so in a manner that provides little to no contrast to their current situation. The financial difficulty that Frankie and his group face due to Tommy's decisions do not seem nearly as drastic as they ought - half a million dollars of debt is thrown away in a conversation without the impact that it should have.
Ending the film as he does, Eastwood attempts a reconciliation to resolve the conflict that appears halfway through the film. The conclusion though feels almost as an afterthought - the scenario is just dressing for the four monologues that close the movie.
All in all, Jersey Boys is a fun film to watch, but if you're expecting to connect to any of the characters, you will not. Initially you can connect with Valli, but as characters pass through his life and as decisions he makes seem without substance, you find yourself more attached to the classic songs you know and love rather than the characters and the story that led to their creation.
Worth a watch, sure, but it's a film that you won't think on long after the credits have rolled.