Review Tuesday: JERSEY BOYS (2014)

I never liked Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons but it was the inflight movie recently so I gave it a shot.

JERSEY BOYS

Four guys get out of their crummy New Jersey neighborhood when their group hits it big. 

My father was born in 1939 and was around to see the birth of rock n' roll so during my childhood we always got to hear him playing the oldies station on the radio. One of the groups that made me mental was Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. I always hated Frankie's annoying screaching falsetto voice. It was like nails on a chalk board to me. When the Broadway show "JERSEY BOYS" came out I had NO INTENTION of seeing it despite the rave reviews. Then Clint Eastwood decided to bring it to the silver screen and I STILL refused to watch it.

Then I was locked in a flying tube with nothing else to watch. 

Okay, I decided to watch JERSEY BOYS since I had nothing else to to do on that flight. 

This movie is a musical, sort of. Usually musicals tell the story with song and dance. Since this story is all about song and dance it's the thread that holds the entire work together. Like similar stories about music groups in the past, you see the evolution of the music, and how it all goes bad, because it ALWAYS does. 

The cast is great. You really get to like everyone, even if you don't like the music. Everyone played their part perfectly. As I understand it, everyone did their own singing and a couple of the actors were the originals from the Broadway show. 

The movie has a couple lessons to be learned. You see how one member racks up debt that causes the break-up of the Four Seasons. And then, Frankie Valli seems like the world's biggest sucker by taking on the debt and going on tour alone for years to pay everyone off.

It truly was a very good movie. It moved you. It had you cheer for these guys when things went well, and made you sorry when things went sour. The characters were developed up enough so you do care. Regardless of what I thought about Frankie Valli before seeing this movie, it was well written to the point that I could say I enjoyed it. 

Worth watching.

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