The Jazz Singer (2007)

Neil Diamond took his first — and last — star turn in The Jazz Singer, a remake of the 1927 Al Jolson talkie, which follows a too-sexy-for-the-synagogue cantor torn between pleasing his father (an uncharacteristically grating Olivier) and his adoring audiences. At times, the script is bad and the acting is worse. But the songs (''Love on the Rocks,'' ''America, '' ''Hello Again'') — like Neil's wardrobe — are classics. EXTRAS Apparently a quarter century wasn't long enough for Diamond to forget the lashing he got from critics; the man who made a tongue-in-cheek cameo in 2001's Saving Silverman is, sadly, nowhere to be found. In a commentary, producer Jerry Leider says he still has no idea why the movie was a stinker; he does, however, wonder whether they should have better lit the ham that Arnaz serves Diamond in a love scene. We do agree with Leider on one point: How could the Oscars snub Diamond...in the Best Song category?

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