Jersey Boys (DVD REVIEW)
Jersey
Boys
DVD Review by Kam Williams
Headline: Adaptation of Tony-Winning Play Arrives on DVD
Francesco Castelluccio
(John Lloyd Young) was born on the wrong side of the tracks of Newark, New
Jersey where he was raised in a public housing
project controlled by the mob. As a rebellious adolescent, he started hanging
out with hoodlums in his Italian neighborhood, over the objections of his
mother (Kathrine Narducci) who feared her son was either going to wind up dead
or in jail.
But despite eventually
getting busted for burglary, he managed to evade imprisonment at 16 when a lenient
judge let him off with just a stern warning. His saving grace, ultimately, would
be that distinctive falsetto that in 1962 catapulted him to the heights of
superstardom as Frankie Valli, the high-pitched front man of The Four Seasons.
His meteoric rise,
self-destruction and resurrection are the subject of Jersey Boys, a scintillating
spectacular with a jukebox soundtrack featuring all of the group’s hits. Directed
by Academy Award-winner Clint Eastwood (for Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby),
the entertaining biopic is based on the play of the same name which won a
quartet of Tonys in 2006, including Best Musical.
The picture stars Tony-winner
John Lloyd Young (for Best Actor in a Musical) who originated the role of
Frankie Valli on Broadway. The rest of The Four Seasons are played by Erich Bergen
as Bob Gaudio, Vincent Piazza as Tommy DeVito, and Michael Lomenda as Nick
Mazzi.
Other pivotal cast members include Renee
Marino as Frankie’s long-suffering wife, Freya Tingley as his equally-neglected
daughter, and Joey Russo as his childhood pal Joe Pesce (yes, that Joe Pesce).
And Oscar-winner Christopher Walken (for The Deer Hunter) steals his every
scene as usual as Angelo “Gyp” DeCarlo, the Mafia don who ran the Genovese
crime family’s loan sharking operations back in the Sixties.
Nevertheless, the real appeal of the movie
rests in the tunes, whose derivations are often implied or expressly explained.
For example, Bob was ostensibly inspired to compose “Big Girls Don’t Cry” after
watching Kirk Douglas slap Jan Sterling in the face in the film, Ace in the
Hole.
The cast, here, performs all the songs
themselves, from “Sherry” to “Dawn” to “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” to “Rag
Doll” to “Who Loves You?” to “Working My Way Back to You” to “Walk Like a Man”
to “Oh, What a Night!” and beyond. Who knew The Four Seasons had so many hits?
A nostalgic trip down Memory Lane
designed with Baby Boomers in mind.
Excellent (4 stars)
Rated
R for pervasive profanity
Running
time: 134 minutes
Distributor:
Warner Home Entertainment Group
Blu-ray/DVD
Combo Pack Extras: From Broadway to the Big Screen; Too Good to Be True; “Oh,
What a Night” to Remember.
To
see a trailer for Jersey Boys, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tC1yOUvvMo
To
order a copy of the Jersey Boys Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack, visit:
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