( EW.com ) -- Nine years ago , Frankie Valli was rescued from oldies-station oblivion with the smash Broadway musical `` Jersey Boys . '' The show chronicles the real-life rise-and-fall-and-rise-again of four crooners from the mobbed-up mean streets of 1960s New Jersey who called themselves the Four Seasons and cranked out a seemingly endless string of hit records , including the love ditty `` Sherry , '' the triumphant `` Walk Like a Man , '' and the bouncy bubblegum bop of `` Big Girls Do n't Cry . '' The songs are timeless . But so are a lot of songs from that Motown and Phil Spector era . What made the Four Seasons magical was Valli 's voice -- an impossibly high-pitched nasal falsetto that sounded like a prepubescent angel who 'd huffed a tank of helium . With `` Jersey Boys ' `` receipts still pouring in on the Great White Way , the notion of adapting the musical into a splashy song-and-dance Hollywood biopic must have been too juicy to resist . In fact , the only thing that might seem surprising about the `` Jersey Boys '' movie is the man squinting behind the camera , Clint Eastwood . But the pairing actually makes more sense than you 'd think . Anyone who saw Eastwood 's 1988 Charlie Parker film , `` Bird , '' knows that the guy 's always been a not-so-closeted hepcat with a discerning set of ears . The biggest problem is that the film , written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice , never makes a convincing case for why Valli the man or the singer matters beyond the music in the way that `` Ray '' and `` Walk the Line '' did for Ray Charles and Johnny Cash . Such are the perils of adapting a somewhat one-dimensional stage show . Fortunately , Eastwood is far wiser on the casting front . As Valli , John Lloyd Young is pretty close to perfection . That 's no shocker , really , as he won a Tony in 2006 for his portrayal of Valli on the boards . With his slicked-back pompadour and wardrobe of sharkskin suits , Young looks more like the late Bruno Kirby than Valli . But when he opens his mouth , you believe you 're listening to the real deal . He finds every ounce of sweat , aftershave , and salad dressing that made up Valli 's one-of-a-kind voice . As his fellow Four Seasons , Michael Lomenda , Erich Bergen and Vincent Piazza are equally spot-on , even if all of their bada-bing lingo occasionally makes them sound like they 're competing in a Chazz Palminteri impersonation contest . ( Both Lomenda and Bergen starred in the stage version as well . ) Eastwood has never been the kind of filmmaker to grab you by the lapels or hot-dog with flashy storytelling tricks . You can walk in halfway through just about any of his movies and know exactly where you are . His laid-back traditionalism has always been part of his appeal , though . And in chronicling the careers of Valli & Co. , he charts a predictably linear through-line : the band 's hardscrabble Italian-American roots , which lead them to a sentimental wiseguy ( Christopher Walken ) who takes them under his wing ; their first flirtation with fame ; the downward slide of excess , money trouble , and infighting ; and a redemptive third act in which they let bygones be bygones when they 're inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 . The movie 's decades-spanning scope requires the 34-year-old Young to play Valli from age 16 to 60 . As good as he is , he is n't done any favors by Eastwood 's makeup team . You 'd think that after all the grousing over Leonardo DiCaprio 's distracting mugful of old-age putty in `` J. Edgar , '' the director would have paid more attention to the unconvincing wrinkles and jowls in the final stretch of `` Jersey Boys . '' But alas . Still , as flat and pitchy as the film sometimes feels , what saves it are those nostalgic , soaring doo-wop numbers ( especially `` Sherry '' ) and Eastwood 's measured doses of directorial playfulness , such as when the actors cheekily break the fourth wall and talk directly to the audience , as they did on Broadway . This trick does n't always work , but when it does , and Valli or one of his bandmates turns to the camera , winks , and dishes about how the reality of events clashes with what we 're actually witnessing on screen , it gooses the film with a giddy jolt of jukebox electricity . EW Grade : B- . See the original story at EW.com . CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . © 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved .
`` Jersey Boys '' is a run-of-the-mill film version of the hit musical . The movie was released in theaters on July 16, 1994 and grossed $55 million at the box office. Strengths are in casting and Four Seasons ' great music .