Jersey Boys Review (2014)

Jersey Boys (2014)

Here is a musical for old farts. And I’ll go ahead and admit right now, even though I’m only 28, I’ve kind of always been an old fart at heart. When it comes to music that old farts like, it doesn’t get much older or fartier than Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.

Along with my appreciation for timeless music, I’m also a sucker for great coming-of-age music movies like Almost Famous and That Thing You Do, which rank among my all-time favorites. Jersey Boys isn’t quite on that level, but it delivers plenty of great groovy tunes alongside a surprisingly compelling story. There’s even a tinge of gangster film woven throughout, thanks to the gritty New Jersey neighborhood these kids came from — early on, we see band members greeting each other on their way into and out of prison, which sets the tone perfectly.

This is the same neighborhood Joe Pesci grew up in, and I don’t reference him by accident; he actually appears in the film as a historical character. Mind blown.

On that front, Christopher Walken also delivers a fine performance as a kindly, godfather-type figure who runs things in the neighborhood. The central conflict is driven largely by one character who also serves as the narrator, Nick DeVito, who falls into serious debt with exactly the kind of people you never want to owe money to. All of that is here, plus plenty of other assorted melodrama layered in for good measure.

Jersey Boys received mixed reviews upon release, but for me it was everything I hoped for — a great musical biopic with iconic music and a well-developed personal story that held my attention throughout.

Maybe it’s simply because I fall squarely in the target demographic for this one, but I don’t care. Jersey Boys is a film I’ll be revisiting many times over, no matter how much the wife doth protest.

Jersey Boys gets a four out of five: GREAT.