My Year Of Flops Case File #41: The Jazz Singer (1980) | The A.V. Club

I! HAFF! NO! COMMENT! As part of his year-long review of Hollywood failures, fiascoes and secret successes, Nathan Rabin reviews Neil Diamond's The Jazz Singer:

Diamond and Arnaz might pass for the slightly homely friends of romantic leads, but as cinematic lovers they’re horrifically miscast. Watching Diamond and Arnaz give into their passions during a soft-focus sex scene is like walking in on your elderly parents having kinky sex, only infinitely more painful and embarrassing. In a star-breaking performance, Arnaz conveys little but the slightly strained vivacity and canned sass of a mediocre sitcom sidekick. Diamond, meanwhile, is utterly defeated by the demands of the script. When called upon to convey heartbreak, Diamond can muster only vague disappointment. When called upon to display moody torment, he conveys the mild irritation of someone who ill-advisedly skipped lunch and is paying an exceedingly modest psychic cost.

It's a shanda.