Rating: 
Summary: One of the All-Time Worst
Review: Neil Diamond's 1980 version of "The Jazz Singer" is worse than anything Elvis ever did on celluloid. This pathetic, unnecessary remake came out during a time when Laurence Olivier was using a yiddish dialect in virtually every film role. "Gravel Throat" Diamond could never sing, so why should we expect him to act? This turkey was a BIG hit in Utah when it was first released, but it bombed everywhere else -- except for the soundtrack, of course.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Music, Bad Picture
Review: The Jazz Singer is one of my favorite movies from when I was young. It has an extra-ordinary collection of good tunes which have probably never sounded better than on this DVD (5.1). Unfortunately, the video shows the filth and fuzziness of the film master. Watching the movies is like looking through a window in serious need of washing. Still the story is compelling, and the acting competent so I highly recommend the movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Gotta Like Neil Diamond
Review: Back in the 80's this was a great movie and for some reason now in 1999 the movie has remained (minus some fashions that remind me of how stupid we looked back then i.e. big sun glasses) entertaining. The story is interesting, as I understand it is actually "based" on Diamond's life story. I have watched this movie about 15 times since 1980 and am just getting to the point of picking "mistakes" out...like living on the beach in California, but no tan!ha! Good story line, moves along nicely, good music...this is a movie you get caught up in even if you're not a big Neil Diamond fan. It's a true "feel good" movie!
Rating:
Summary: Watched it in class
Review: My friends and I thought it was alot alike the movie Yentle. I thought the movie was some what entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful movie; wonderful music.
Review: OK, so it's not a "real life" picture of the music business in California, or of how relationships begin and end. But it's a sweet story of a young jewish cantor who respects his roots, but has a deeper yearning to experience life outside the small community of his synagogue. Neil Diamond and Lucy Arnez each give a tender performance. The movie is sad enough to make you cry, but happy enough to make you feel satisfied at the end. To me, the song "Hello Again" is one of the most beautiful ever written. If you like Neil Diamond's music, you'll probably enjoy this movie. And yes, DO bring the kleenex.
Rating:
Summary: great
Review: an very good movie
Rating:
Summary: Neil is the "reel" deal!
Review: "The Jazz Singer (1980)" marks Neil Diamond's theatrical debut as an actor, that is, unless you count The Band's "The Last Waltz", in which ND makes a cameo appearance. His performance in "TJS" as an assistant cantor isn't half-bad. Complimenting Neil's role quite nicely is an Oscar-winning caliber performance by the late, great Sir Laurence Olivier, who is stupendous as a stern, yet stubborn Jewish senior cantor. I've viewed this movie quite a number of times, and what I was expecting from the first viewing was an exact remake of the original 1927 version, but that wasn't quite the case, although I've never seen the entire original version. The premise of this version is sort of like the original, in that the premise of the story tells of an assistant cantor, Jess Robinovich, aka Robin (Diamond), who'd rather write and record songs for pure enjoyment and please his soon-to-be-fan base than remain in the synagogue and please his senior-cantor father (Olivier). Catlin Adams (Rivka Robinovich) and Lucie Arnaz (Molly Bell) offer fine supporting roles as ND's present, then future "significant other(s)". Molly is first Jess' manager, then his future wife. The scenes focusing on Jess and Molly's relationship will tug at your heart strings, so it's nice to have a box of Kleenex handy. Comedian/Actor Franklyn Ajaye has a role as one of Jess' backup singers. Neil Diamond also wrote the songs that also appear on the soundtrack, and they're good ones: "Love On The Rocks", 'America", "Hello Again", "You Baby", "Jerusalem", "Kol Nidre" and "Songs Of Life." It is also rumored that ND currently has a theatrical project in the works slated for release sometime in 2001. It's about time! Please don't wait another twenty years to release the next one, Neil! That's why all hard-core "Diamondheads" should include "The Jazz Singer (1980)" to their video collection, because a motion picture starring Neil Diamond is hard to come by.
Rating: 
Summary: A typical vanity picture
Review: It's been the rare music superstar who doesn't turn their hand to at least one movie, and Neil Diamond is no exception. "The Jazz Singer" is not a good film, either cinematically (Sir Laurence Olivier stated flat out that he did this one for the money) or musically ("Hello Again" is pretty, but much of the rest of the soundtrack tries WAY too hard). Diamond has a deer-caught-in-the-headlights expression for much of the movie, except when he's singing. Olivier's over-the-top performance is a treat for cheese lovers, though, and Lucie Arnaz actually does a pretty good job. Overall, though, if you're not a Neil Diamond fan (and even if you are), this film is pretty tough going.
Rating:
Summary: The Worst Movie Ever Made---Diamond is Horrendous
Review: To begin with, Neil Diamond could never sing. He has always "talked" his songs, he doesn't sing. Even on simply-constructed rock tunes, he has a totally grating, unmusical voice, no breath control, and the sense of rhythm of a polka dancer. Now, put him in a movie called "The Jazz Singer," and what you get is something akin to casting Fatty Arbuckle as Errol Flynn. Diamond is a product of the commercial Brill Building, a heavily promoted performer of marginal talent. His acting is atrocious---laughable in fact. He has made an entire career out of the same three chord song structures and a voice that resembles the sound of fingernails scratching a slate board. Jazz singing is the territory of truly talented people like Mel Torme, Mildred Bailey, and Ella Fitzgerald. They had musical voices, impeccable phrasing, innate rhythm, and a vocal range that spanned multiple octaves (as opposed to Diamond's stiff, frog-like, off-key utterings). It's a joke, really, that Neil Diamond was even given this role. What's next? The cross-eyed, mule-faced Barbra Streisand playing the life of Heddy LaMarr? Hey, I've got some other ideas for those Hollywood producers: how about Sally Jesse Raphael and Jerry Springer as Clark Gable and Carole Lombard? Springer can play Lombard, and the gorgeous, sexy Raphael can play Gable. She already has the mustache. Then we can get Billy Crystal to play John Wayne. Finally, Alan Dershowitz should be given his acting break, don't you agree? How 'bout casting him opposite O.J. Simpson in "Anything Goes?" Hey, open your eyes. The liberal Hollywood freaks have made popular culture an oxymoron. There are no more absolutes, everything is relative. All criminal behavior is rationalized and the perpetrator exonerated via psychobabble like "his Dad never plaed catch with him, that's why he's an axe murderer." Ugly is now beautiful, stupidity is now erudition, and immorality is now a virtue. Anything goes so long as money can be made. Since the end of WWII, and especially since the drug-infested 1960s, we've allowed the barbarians to assume control of all social, political and cultural discourse. Now all we can do (to paraphrase Chubby Checker) is wonder just how low can we go.
Rating:
Summary: Bad acting from a great
Review: This was a bad idea from the start. Neil simply cannot act, and it's embarassing to see Olivier chewing the scenery in this... "I HEF no son!!" This was obviously made during his "make money for the kids" period, where he would pretty much act in anything. It's just bad.
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