Jan Wahl Movie Review: 'Jersey Boys'
You can hear KCBS Entertainment Editor Jan Wahl's movie reviews on KCBS All News 740AM and 106.9FM Fridays at 8:53am & 4:53pm.
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SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— KCBS Entertainment Editor Jan Wahl reviews "Jersey Boys", the story of four men who formed the 1960's group The Four Seasons who sang the hit song, "Big Girls Don't Cry."
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JERSEY BOYS (R)
From "The Bandwagon" to "Ray", and from "Funny Girl" to "Dreamgirls", movies about performers can be uplifting, dramatic and a way into the creative process.
One play that's been popular and is good about innovation and great music is "Jersey Boys". Director Clint Eastwood has given us the big-screen version of this Tony Award winning musical. It tells the story of a few young men from the wrong side of the Jersey tracks, the songwriter who joins them, and soon The Four Seasons are giving us the soundtrack of our lives.
Eastwood cast the film well, with members of the theatrical cast and Christopher Walken stealing every scene as a gangster with a heart of gold. All That Jazz and Cabaret reminds us that drama can mix with music, but here there is too much drama and not enough of the soaring music.
We never see them rehearse and we never experience their excitement of the hits. The boys get popular and almost are operating in a vacuum. There's very little of the culture shown. It is the one thing a musical should not be— flat. Still, as a film-ish noir and for the music we do get, it is well worth seeing. Wish it would have been a real movie musical.
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WATCH JAN'S INTERVIEW WITH THE "JERSEY BOYS"
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