There are some people who think this is one of the worst movies of all time. I am one of these people. 'The Jazz Singer' is truly abysmal on almost every level.
This journey of despair has Lawrence Olivier hamming it up as a Jewish cantor, (what was he thinking of?) and meister-crooner Neil Diamond, (was he thinking at all?), as father and son at loggerheads because Diamond's character wants to pursue a career in - horror of horrors - Manilow-esque easy listening music!
Well, what happens next is a schmaltz-fest of cringesome clichés - note how "What happened to the groove?" elicits nothing but sniggers and derision when watched with friends - bad acting, bad accents, a weird bit with our Neil in the wilderness trying to discover himself...but hey, it all comes right for him in the end, and he and his father are conveniently reconciled during one of Neil's concerts. Larry may now like his son's music, but he sure seems to be having some problems clapping in time to it.
The only thing this movie has going for it is Diamond's music - I'm not a fan, but the man certainly has a talent for singing, if not acting. This still fails to redeem this unwatchable dross however, so you're better off buying the soundtrack album. Maybe you'll buy it on the web to save yourself the embarrassment of asking for it in-store.
Enough already!
This journey of despair has Lawrence Olivier hamming it up as a Jewish cantor, (what was he thinking of?) and meister-crooner Neil Diamond, (was he thinking at all?), as father and son at loggerheads because Diamond's character wants to pursue a career in - horror of horrors - Manilow-esque easy listening music!
Well, what happens next is a schmaltz-fest of cringesome clichés - note how "What happened to the groove?" elicits nothing but sniggers and derision when watched with friends - bad acting, bad accents, a weird bit with our Neil in the wilderness trying to discover himself...but hey, it all comes right for him in the end, and he and his father are conveniently reconciled during one of Neil's concerts. Larry may now like his son's music, but he sure seems to be having some problems clapping in time to it.
The only thing this movie has going for it is Diamond's music - I'm not a fan, but the man certainly has a talent for singing, if not acting. This still fails to redeem this unwatchable dross however, so you're better off buying the soundtrack album. Maybe you'll buy it on the web to save yourself the embarrassment of asking for it in-store.
Enough already!