SilverLexiGirl Review of Jersey Boys

Jersey Boys (2014)

Mildly entertaining but with chronological inaccuracies!

[4/10 · 23 August 2015]

**Spoilers** While this film did have some entertaining moments and some amusing dialog, I'd have to say that it fell flat in story, acting, and accuracy. Now, I know this film was adapted from an onstage production, but that doesn't get the film version off the hook; it still has to work somehow. This film didn't work for me. The story was interesting at first, but seemed to take off into random directions which often led nowhere. Valli's personal life with his family is focused on in the beginning, then disappears for most of the film, then returns later after viewers have forgotten and no longer care. On top of that, a story about Valli's daughter which comes up late in the film is so horribly chronologically inaccurate, it would be a shame not to point it out. Sorry, but Valli's song Can't Take My Eyes Off of You was not written and released just after Valli's adult daughter died (in 1980); it was released in 1967 when she would have been about 10 years old. Also, the song My Eyes Adored You, which Valli's character is shown singing to his young daughter in the film during a time which would have been around the middle 60s, wasn't actually released until 1974. I suppose these inaccuracies made the film flow better, but they irritated me. As for the make-up and the set, well they all looked way too glamorous and cheesy to capture a 1950s-60s era New Jersey. The interior shots were too nice, the clothes were too neat, the actors/actresses were too thin and had too nice of skin and teeth for that era. Lastly, I really hate to complain about the music in this film because I believe they used these same actors' voices in the musical, but the singing and the music was just not right for me. I grew up listening to The Four Seasons and to me, Valli's real voice was simply too unique and powerful not to have in this film. Overall, I didn't care much for this film, other than the fact that is was about The Four Seasons.