JERSEY BOYS (Rated R)

Did you happen to know that Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, at one time banded together as “The Lovers,” obtained the group’s name from that of a New Jersey bowling alley from which they were unceremoniously booted without the ability to fulfill an engagement?

“Jersey Boys” – more of a biopic about the fortunes of hardscrabble boys from a working class Italian-American neighborhood in Belleville, New Jersey than a musical – is full of nuggets of biographical information, more than had been provided by the Broadway musical upon which the movie is based.

It seems most doubtful that a major motion picture about streetwise crooners, whose heyday goes back about a half-century, would have been made in today’s world without the incredible success of a Broadway show now running for more than eight years.

The stage version of “Jersey Boys” put the music of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons back into the public conscience long after the group retired and gained well-deserved acclaim by being inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, an event that bookends the film.

Nostalgia is the driving force behind the appeal of “Jersey Boys.” It worked on Broadway, with the revival of upbeat pop songs like “Sherry,” “Walk Like a Man,” “Dawn (Go Away),” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” and “Rag Doll,” just to name a few of the endless hits.

That legendary Clint Eastwood is the director of “Jersey Boys” on the surface seems like an unusual choice, but his love of jazz music arguably puts this venture into his wheelhouse. Besides, the real Frankie Valli and songwriter Bob Gaudio are executive producers.

The film’s Frankie Valli is John Lloyd Young, the obvious pick for the singer with the falsetto voice as he won the Tony Award in his Broadway debut for the stage production that also won the Tony for Best Musical.

Young’s Frankie Valli is the natural fit, and it would be hard to imagine someone else in the pivotal role of the often temperamental singer with the Jersey accent, the perfectly-coiffed pompadour and natural style of a neighborhood kid making the big time.

Frankie and his street pals, Tommy DeVito (Vincent Piazza) and Nick Massi (Michael Lomenda), would as often as not get into trouble with the law for petty crimes. There are occasions in the early days when one of them would end up for a short prison stint, though this did not happen to Valli.

Local mob boss Gyp DeCarlo (Christopher Walken), a fixture in the community, proves to be a big fan of Valli’s crooning talent.

DeCarlo figures into the story to help smooth out problems caused when the hotheaded, profligate Tommy gets the group deep in debt to the wrong people.

Bouncing around in lousy nightclub acts, the group finally coalesces when they discover Bob Gaudio (Erich Bergen), a natural talent for songwriting who does not come from the neighborhood. In fact, his background is more upscale but he fits in nicely with the group.

Gaudio’s talent is that he was either the writer or co-writer of “The Four Seasons” hit-parade of great songs.

With Gaudio on board, the group meets up with flamboyant record producer Bob Crewe (Mike Doyle), whose urbane flair is far removed the Jersey shore.

The members of “The Four Seasons” were not related by blood, but they were as close as family and sometimes just as dysfunctional.

As they rose to fame, infighting and squabbles became the norm, often because Tommy was the source of their dilemmas.

Performing at the Ohio State Fair, they are arrested by authorities for having skipped out on a hotel bill from their appearance the year before. None of their legal troubles proves daunting, and their career continues to soar with national TV appearances.

Frankie Valli is the lead singer and the star attraction, even to a female journalist who succumbs to his charms though he’s still married, while his wife Mary (Renee Marino) has become predictably angered by his aloofness and absence from the family.

But Valli is frequently eclipsed in presence by the volatile Tommy, the putative band organizer who prides himself on booking events and dealing with producers.

Tommy is the catalyst for much of the action, particularly the kind that gets the group on the wrong side of talent agents, producers and even the law.

“Jersey Boys” is about the music, but also very much tuned into the chemistry of “The Four Seasons” and how these strong-willed individuals cope with fame and fortune, and those bumps in the road that threaten to derail the storybook journey.
 
One device taken from the Broadway show is that the actors break the proverbial “fourth wall” – talking directly to the camera and, thus, right to the audience. It’s an effective means for each member of the “Jersey Boys” to tell the story from his own point of view.

Having seen the Broadway musical, an experience recommended to anyone, I would say “Jersey Boys” still works better as a stage production.

Nevertheless, many elements from the show translate well to the screen, and “Jersey Boys” the film is definitely worth seeing and the soundtrack worth buying.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.