Little Bit of a Disappointment....

Rating: 7/10 (13 April 2015)

I'm not really sure there are any true "spoilers" in this review, but I clicked the box just in case due to some content issues I might be giving away... When I first heard they were making a big screen version of the hit Broadway musical, AND that Clint Eastwood was directing, I got excited. So I finally got around to watching off HBO GO over the weekend and...it was alright...
Now I've never actually seen the play performed live, but my issues with the movie really had more to do with the music than anything else. Being a big Four Seasons fan (and the fact this is supposed to be a MUSICAL!!), I was really just expecting a wider variety of 4 Seasons hits than just your usual- "Sherry", "Walk Like A Man", "Working My Way Back to you", etc.. some music that would somehow tie into the story, and what was going on in their lives at each moment. It just seemed like this movie was a straight-up rock&roll biopic, and the music was a side- thing we'd see them perform sometime- and THAT being said- performed..really not all that well. There was really nothing inspiring or emotional I found about any of the musical performances.
However, all that being said about the music, the actual acting performances weren't bad; the writing of the story was pretty decent- and with a good cast including no less than Christopher Walken, how can you go wrong. Clint Eastwood's direction has always been without a lot of fancy camera movements, angles, etc.. and "Jersey Boys" is no exception. He goes for the straight line storytelling arc just like in most his films. And calling this a "musical" really?- again, I've not seen the play performed live, but it seems that a "musical" is really more when the actors/characters break into song, whereas in this film, the musical numbers are generally just performed when the 4 Seasons themselves are performing the songs in front of an audience or in the studio recording- so maybe not a true "musical" per se; more of a hybrid piece-?? And on a side-note: it was a bit surreal to see an actor portraying Joe Pesci!- AND that he made a major contribution to getting the 4 Seasons on their fast-track to success?? WTF??