‘Jersey Boys’ Film Tagged with R Rating, Set to Open June 20

Warner Bros. officially released the first image from the new film adaptation of the stage musical Jersey Boys. The film, which has earned itself an R rating by the MPAA, is set to open June 20.

Directed by Clint Eastwood, the film tells the story of the group The Four Seasons and captures their rise to fame in the 1960’s. The official film synopsis reads, “Clint Eastwood’s big screen version of the Tony Award-winning musical tells the story of the four young men from the wrong side of the tracks in New Jersey who came together to form the iconic `60s rock group The Four Seasons. Their trials and triumphs are accompanied by the hit songs that influenced a generation, and are now being embraced by a new generation of fans through the stage musical.”

The MPAA gave the film an R rating, citing “language throughout” as its reasoning. This makes sense though given that the F-word is used continuously throughout the book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. Hollywood musicals don’t usually flirt with the R-rated territory so it should be interesting to see how the box office reacts.

Eastwood largely cast relatively unknown stage actors in the film to include John Lloyd Young, Erich Bergen, Vincent Piazza, and Michael Lomenda who play Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, based upon the released image. Though actor Christopher Walken also stars in the production.