As the fine old plot of The Jazz Singer was dusted off for the fifth and last time of the last century, it might do well to remember that it wasn't really that great a play to begin with. It was a mediocre piece of writing that Georgie Jessel starred on Broadway with and was made into a film to exhibit that new invention of sound with the singing talents of Al Jolson.

Jolson was America's greatest entertainer and he got to reprise some of the great standards that he made famous, most particularly that climax of getting down on one knee and singing to his Mammy in the audience. That's what the first film version of The Jazz Singer is famous for, nothing else.

Poor Neil Diamond also got a great showcase for some wonderful songs he introduced and little else. I did enjoy Love on the Rocks, Coming to America and Hello Again, great songs by a great singer. But in making his screen debut he was overshadowed by the 20th century's greatest English speaking actor who played his cantor father.

Sir Laurence Olivier dusted off that patented middle-Europa accent that had served well on so many occasions. At that point in his career Olivier was doing many things strictly for the paycheck to build a nice estate to leave his kids. That trend started with The Betsy for him. Certainly he had nothing left to prove as an actor.

Someone else mentioned that Olivier would look ridiculous trying Neil Diamond's art. Actually he did on screen and maybe one day The Beggar's Opera will be available on DVD and VHS or shown on TV so we can all judge.

I count five versions of The Jazz Singer. Jessel on stage, the Jolson and Diamond versions and another in between with Eduard Franz as the cantor and Danny Thomas as his son. And a fifth done for television by Jerry Lewis which is supposed to make this one look good.

For Fans of Neil Diamond only and don't expect him singing to Mammy in the climax. The plot has Olivier as a widower.

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.

THE JAZZ SINGER is a straight-up remake of the 1927 Al Jolson musical in which a Jewish man pursues his dream of becoming a pop singer. How much you enjoy it depends really on your appreciation of Neil Diamond, as he dominates the proceedings here. The rest of the cast, including Laurence Olivier, don't get much of a look in, although Olivier makes sure he gets the opportunity to chew the scenery on the few instances he does appear. There's little plotting to boot; instead this feels like a rags-to-riches slice-of-life tale inspired by the feel of the likes of SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER. Diamond's acting skills are limited to say the least, but he does belt out a number of decent tunes, so as an easy-listening piece this works pretty well.