Oh, What a Night

Rating: 8/10 (22 July 2014)

I cannot honestly sit here and say I'm a big fan of musicals, but then again I really wouldn't call this a true musical. With a nice gripping story, and some amazing music, Clint Eastwood brings us the popular Broadway show to the silver screen. This is my review of Jersey Boys.
Jersey Boys is a huge Broadway musical that has been around for nearly a decade now, and in the big screen version the writers of that musical comes into write this film(Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice). While I cannot comment on the Broadway musical, I can honestly say the writing in this movie was top notch. Great story that mostly moves by great, amazing music at just the right times. The back story is very interesting. As a fan of Frankie Valli and the Four Season(not a huge fan by any means) I must say, I was a little shocked to find out some of the informative information this movie brings to us. This is really an all over fantastic effort from Brickman and Elice. The film does have faults, as there are times in the film where the pace falls off, but it never really bothered me to a point where I lost interest.
The film is directed by the legendary Clint Eastwood. Eastwood of course has a great track record as an actor, but his recent efforts directing haven't been great(minus Gran Torino). In my opinion he gets back on track with this film. With an amazing lineup of actors, Eastwood really pulls this film off perfectly. Leading the pack and playing Frankie Valli is John Lloyd Young. While I've never heard of him before this film, I honestly can say his acting was great in this film. He works perfectly as well with the rest of the cast like Vincent Piazza(Tommy Devito), Erich Bergen(Bob Gaudio), and Michael Lomenda(Nick Massi). These actors are fabulous in this film, all working great together. It is a joy to see them recreate this amazing story of their rise to fame, and of course the problems that come with fame. Eastwood, for the most part brings us a flawless film, minus some pacing issues that I mentioned above. The film has a fairly long runtime of two hour and fifteen minutes, and you wonder if the film would have fared a little better if some of the scenes were cut down. Either way Eastwood brings us amazing scenes of the fifties and sixties America, and an around all great film.
Overall, if you are a fan of musicals or just a fan of Frankie Valli and the Four Season, then this is the movie for you. Some in the younger audience may not enjoy the film as they don't typically enjoy this type of older music, so to them it would be best to stay away from this film. For younger people like me who enjoy this music, and really anyone who enjoys this kind of music, then this is a film for you that also brings a nice story.
8/10