“Jersey Boys” tells the story of four young men from the wrong side of the tracks in New Jersey who came together to form the iconic 1960s rock group The Four Seasons. The story of their trials and triumphs are accompanied by the songs that influenced a generation, including “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Walk Like a Man,” “Dawn,” “Rag Doll,” “Bye Bye Baby,” “Who Loves You,” and many more.
These classic hits are now being embraced by a new generation of fans through the stage musical, which has been running on Broadway for more than eight years and has also enjoyed successful tours around the globe.
Director Clint Eastwood brings the Broadway phenomenon to big screen with solid results despite a couple flaws. The main one being it's not as fun and joyful as the stage production. I also felt the characters talking to the camera style with each member telling their story was a little jarring. What I did enjoy was the brilliant renditions of classic songs that will take many viewers back to yesteryear and also remind those who have seen the Broadway production what amazing voices the cast has. Christopher Walken is perfect as mobster Gyp Decarlo and we're even treated to see him dancing a bit, you can see he had a lot of fun. The mobster element and more dramatic moments make this more of a film with some great bursts of music mixed in rather than a great musical but that shouldn't stop you from checking this one out. 8/10
Jersey Boys arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p transfer in the aspect ratio of 2.40:1 - Colors are desaturated which was a stylistic choice of the Director and Cinematographer. Fleshtones appeared natural. Black levels are deep and exhibit good shadow delineation. The image is crisp and shows fine details in instruments, wardrobes and close ups on the performers. There were no signs of compression artifacting. Eastwood's vision is represented well by this excellent transfer. 9/10
Audio is provided by a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. - The audio presentation is front heavy and not much too speak about , that is until the music sequences kick in and the room is enveloped with crisp highs, some deep bass notes and crystal clear vocal performances. Dialogue for rest of the film was crisp and clean. Thankfully there are zero anomalies to speak of.In closing the track is at it's best when the Four Seasons are belting out their classics.8/10
*From Broadway To The Big Screen (HD, 22min57sec) - I found this to be more interesting than originally expected as the featurette tracks the genesis of the production , a look at the Broadway musical that became a smash hit and the process of adapting it to the silver screen. Director Clint Eastwood along with various members of the cast and crew share their thoughts on the film.
*Too Good To Be True (HD, 4min51sec)
*“Oh, What A Night” To Remember (HD, 5min) - A brief look into the all the hard work that went into making the closing credits musical sequence. Cast and crew interview snippets are mixed in.