Thursday, June 19, 2014

CAN'T TAKE MY KIDS' EYES ONTO YOU:  Can someone familiar with the musical explain to me why the film adaptation of Jersey Boys had to be released as rated R for "language throughout"?  Given the content, was it just unavoidable that this be released in a family-unfriendly format?

[I also love this note from Tasha Robinson's review: "The actors’ ages don’t help; the film has a bit of a Rent problem, with performers who have aged out of their roles. The scene where Bob loses his virginity to great acclaim is odd enough—the actor is 28, the character is supposed to be 18, though the film doesn’t mention that detail—but it’s even odder when Frankie’s parents scold him about his 11 p.m. curfew. John Lloyd Young is 38."]

13 comments:

  1. There is an apparently a 99% iron clad rule that more than one use of the f-word, or even one use of the f-word in a sexual context. I've not seen the source material, but I can certainly imagine the story containing a decent amount of profanity. (Once got an R for the same reasons.)

    Sure, they probably could have cut it, but they're clearly making an awards/prestige/adult pitch for the film. I'm not sure that is a SMART call from a profitability perspective, but that's what they're doing.

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  2. Joseph Finn10:29 AM

    Sure, they could have bowed to the MPAA's goofy rules, but I respect them for not doing that.

    Sadly, it's also a pretty standard, by the book musical biopic. It's pretty good, the music is of course great, but it's nothing special. (I will note that the actor who plays Bob Gaudio, Erich Bergen, is a highlight of the movie.)

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  3. I was wondering if the amount of smoking had something to do with the R-rating, along with the swearing.

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  4. Would this movie be appealing to teenagers/kids anyway?

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  5. I saw a trailer for this at the inexplicably PG-13-rated The Edge of Tomorrow, which just made clear how farcical the MPAA's views of language and violence are.

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  6. Adam B.12:08 PM

    Oh, and Think Like A Manatee is PG-13 also.

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  7. bellawilfer1:09 PM

    I went to summer camp with Erich - I have so many memories of him as this tiny kid - thrilled for his success.

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  8. Joseph Finn1:10 PM

    Also, I love his goatee later in the movie.

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  9. bellawilfer1:12 PM

    Congratulations on reminding me that I am ancient. ;)

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  10. Joseph Finn1:16 PM

    Oh, that was the Dirty Dancing and 1990 comment earlier in the week for me.

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  11. Adam C.8:49 AM

    I question it's appeal to 43-year-olds, though I'm sure their (my) parents will love it. Haven't seen the source, so maybe I'm missing out on numerous entertaining Four Seasons anecdotes, but I'm decidedly in the "will live without it" camp along with, I suspect, those many teenagers/kids. Unless there's some wildly kinetic Eastwood direction? (Yeah, right).

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  12. Adam C.9:05 AM

    I don't think the rule is quite so iron-clad as to number (because I'm pretty sure I've heard it more than once in a PG-13 film from time to time), but I think that's right as to context - if it's used as an infrequent expletive or exclamation, you can stay in PG-13 land, but if you're using it indiscriminately or talking about sex, the MPAA will bust out the R. It's a dumb line to draw, even before you get to the ratings board's prudishness; either parents are OK with their kids hearing "fuck" or they are not.
    In our own experience, we figured it was time to stop consciously shielding our kids (now 12 and 10) from the word once they heard it in "Lincoln." It's just a word.
    Where the MPAA has succeded: it is certainly a more challenging world in which to pick movies to show at your kids' birthday party sleepovers. Kudos, MPAA!

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  13. Heather K11:01 AM

    I went to this musical for the first time (I've now seen it three or four times) against my will with my mother and her friends back when they visited while Chicago still had its own cast. They could not have been more excited to see a Four Seasons Jukebox musical, and I could not have been less excited. However, the execution on this jukebox musical was outstanding. The lighting and projection design are some of the best I have ever seen from both an emotional storytelling perspective and from just a design perspective. Plus though the structure is a tell a story so we can slot hit songs in, the book is well done. It was carefully thought out so it makes sense AND tells a story. And so I have seen it a few more times, especially because my husband totally loves it. We will be hitting the movie next weekend as part of my birthday celebrations.

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