Eddie and the Cruisers

1964. The band are poised for national success when singer Eddie drives his car off a bridge. His body is never found... Cue, 20 years later, the inevitable Cruisers revival, and a rock'n'roll mystery ensues with renewed speculation over the singer's fate. Overlong live sequences of the band repeatedly threaten to take over from the otherwise fairly reasonable storyline, and relationships don't have the chance to develop. Add to this the fact that the band sound more like Springsteen than Del Shannon, and it all seems a little unrealistic. Clothes and settings, too, seem strangely anonymous. Where it works is in the present, and a sharper look at how various band members had made out 20 years on would have made it still more interesting. Low key and, despite the music, rather likeable.