Culture

Rating: B-

Let me start by saying that Jersey Boys the stage musical is SO FREAKING GOOD. Following the true story of the mob-associated New Jersey lads’ rise to fame as the squeaky-clean pop sensations The Four Seasons, it included dozens of impeccably-performed hits that you had no idea came from that band. So how did they manage to turn it into such a shit film?

Film adaptations of stage musicals are always risky business, not least because they take away the most thrilling element of the original: live music. However, some have succeeded through offering the viewer that which could not be created on stage, the most enthralling example being Rob Marshall’s Chicago (2002). With its fantastical dream sequences, elaborate sets, and superb acting, Chicago gave us everything we couldn’t see on stage, making up for what we couldn’t hear in film.

And that’s the problem with Jersey Boys; instead of combining the strengths of each medium, it combined the weaknesses. It kept the two-dimensional characterisations and clunky dialogue eminent in stage musicals, and married it with a prominent lack of musical performance. What’s the point in that? Although the songs of The Four Seasons’ proliferate in the film, it’s usually as non-diegetic sound playing over top of a montage, under dialogue or, worst of all, in diners where the band are eating. So much of the joy of the musical is seeing four men in matching suits standing behind microphones, following small but succinct choreography. But this was minimal in the film, as although we heard the songs often, we hardly ever saw them actually being sung. This was even more inappropriate considering the lead, John Lloyd Young (who won a Tony Award for Jersey Boys the stage musical) was clearly cast as Frankie Valli for his voice, not his acting chops. Ironically, the end credits’ high-tempo theatrical montage was exactly what I wanted from the entire film, which instead was a dreary, overly-factual chunk of average. Don’t try to make a musical realistic, Clint Eastwood; all we want is a little sparkle!