Throughout this film I kept thinking "oh yeah I can see how this would have worked on stage" with it's theatrically effective device of characters talking to the audience, and broad characterisations, and endless parades of tunes. Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons aren't the first band you think of for a hit musical but in hindsight you can see the appeal - there's an interesting enough story involving the boys, with one of them getting in debt to the Mob, and two others forming a strong creative partnership that excludes the others, with detours, some tragic (Frankie's daughter dies of an overdose) others more comic (Joe Pesci's early involvement with the band). There's also plenty of songs, not just the early 60s do-Wop stuff but later classics such as 'Can't Take My Eyes Off You' and 'Who Loves You?'
Yeah it would have worked on stage. As a movie it doesn't really - it's too leisurely paced when it needed to be sparky, too brown where some lively art direction and costumes would have worked a treat. The singing abilities of the cast would impress on stage where it's live - on film you can easily dub actors so it's less impressive.
Good on them I guess for being loyal to the stage cast but I think stars would have been better - some more charisma would have fleshed out the paper thin parts. John Lloyd is fine as Frankie and Vincent Piazza shows charm as Tommy - though even he gets monotonous after a while. Erich Bergen and Michael Lomenda are just bland. Chris Walker is the cuddliest mafia don you'll ever see and the rest of the cast are "types" - camp gay, adoring women, bitchy wives, scolding cops, ethnic mothers, tragic daughter, wordless groupies. Actually the leads are types too. It drags on and on. The tunes are lively.
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