Brilliant and touching

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

A Jewish cantor follows his dreams against his families wishes.Starring Neil Diamond and Laurence Olivier.Written by Samson Raphaelson (Play), Herbert Baker (Screenplay) and Stephen H Foreman (Adaptation).Directed by Richard Fleischer. I can't belief how lowly rated this is on IMDb,I love this film!Okay so it's as cheesy as a packet of Wotsits and there are a few movie clichés here and there but I enjoyed every second of this. I love the story. I love the acting. I loved all the cheesy romantic stuff.There's nothing not to like about The Jazz Singer. It's just good solid escapism. I'm also guessing that it was quite controversial in it's day.Did I tell you that I love this film? Now I need to go on Spotify to listen to more Neil Diamond!10/10

Apparently, the Razzie people thought this movie was so bad that it belonged in their top 100 list of worst movies. They were especially critical of Neil Diamond's performance. However, after seeing the film, I think this is a bit too harsh. Now I am not saying the movie was good. It does, clearly, suck. However, it isn't bad enough to merit all the hype about the film and it's abysmal awfulness. I see it as the Ivory Soap of films...it's only 99.44% bad! First, let's talk about Neil Diamond. He has a very pleasant voice and while I've never particularly liked his style of music, most of the songs are bouncy and enjoyable. Most. A few, such as the party song and seeing and hearing Neil dressed as a cowboy and singing "You Are My Sunshine" are truly craptastic. As for his acting, it isn't bad for a non-professional actor--which is exactly what he was. This is perhaps why they really didn't give him all that much acting to do--having him sing again and again and again to cover up this deficiency. His acting was not good, sure, but also not that bad. I say give the guy a break...except for that scene with the cowboy hat! Second, while Neil Diamond can't be faulted too much, I certainly can fault Sir Laurence Olivier! At times, he's not bad. But, at other times it's like he's on something....some drug that makes him either THINK he's playing the same guy he played in THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL or that prevents him from recognizing that he was awful. While this might offend a lot of Olivier fans, however, it must be said that late in his career he appeared in anything...provided the check cleared. And his acting, to put it bluntly, was terrible and hammy (an apropos word for this film).However, despite these two major deficits, the biggest problem actually isn't with any of the actors. The writing, to put it nicely, is poo. Yes, folks...poo. The film is laced with clichés and dialog that couldn't help but make the actors look like dopes. My theory is that the producer's cat wrote the screenplay...a very, very dumb cat at that.But, although I've said a lot of harsh things about this film, I must add that the songs were not bad and made the film passable...at times. Painful but not abysmally bad.

Like was mentioned in another commentary, Diamond should have made a concert film and I add or a documentary on his life laced with these new songs. Or narrate a documentary of Jewish musicians in America. But why am I frittering my time crying over spilt milk what could've been done instead? Somebody put this crap together, Diamond's in it and to sum it up minus the music & (too little of) Lucy Arnaz (sp), Jazz Singer 1980 cringe-worthy.I was incensed with the black face thing above everything else--Remake or modernization that should not have been in the film; maybe it tinged my feeling for the rest of this cinematic drivel. But wait, black face scene out it's still a nauseating flick without songs and Lucy's daughter. It's not the least bit funny or charming. The makers of this should've taken a peek at the the Beatles films--They were both funny and cute and the Fab 4 could act. Sting (Dune 1984) and David Bowie are good average actors, Manilow was somewhat tolerable in his film 5 yrs later but the story was nice. Jazz Singer 1980 is boring and Diamond is so gut turning bad even Larry O, laughable in his role, couldn't make me forget how this remake sucked. Somebody ever coming across this review get a hold of what Roger Ebert said about this when it firs came out. It sums up everything.

This is a terrible movie. Neil Diamond can't act... Laurence Olivier was just looking to make a quick buck... The plot is just too predictable and trite... But worst of all, the music doesn't work. How can we believe this Yussuf character has any talent at all (let alone reaches stardom) when the songs are all so... BLEAH? Don't get me wrong. I love a lot of Diamond's '70s classics. But the songs in this movie don't even come close. It would have been a far more interesting movie as a true-life biopic of Diamond's own story (with himself in the starring role if we must), and with songs such as 'I am, I Said' and 'Daydream Believer' on the soundtrack.