The Runaways

Directed by Floria Sigismondi
2010
Rated R
107 minutes

Summary from Netflix: Dakota Fanning stars in this musical biopic as Cherie Currie, lead singer of the 1970s all-girl rock group the Runaways, whose meteoric rise up the charts was saturated with drugs and other excesses of the era. Though the Runaways start out as a novelty act, the rock 'n' roll chops of Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart), Lita Ford (Scout Taylor-Compton) and the other girls lift the group to international stardom 



My rating: ★★★ out of 5 (although I almost want to say 2.75 out of 5)

Ok, I'll admit it.  I wanted to see this because when I was younger, I thought Joan Jett was the coolest person on the planet next to Cyndi Lauper.  In addition to that reason, I also saw this movie out of a mild curiosity about Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning being in it.

After seeing the movie, I really wasn't sure if it was worth reviewing or not.

First off, it was hard to watch.  It wasn't so boring that I wanted to pick up my phone or have the movie in the background while I typed away on my computer, but some of it was just hard to watch and I feel a little loss for words right now on what I mean by that. 

I did like that they didn't make the whole music business to be all glamorous to be on the road and doing concerts.  This movie gave a much closer to realistic viewpoint then most. 

Unfortunately the movie fell short somewhere. Maybe it was the way it flowed?  Maybe it was the plot?  Maybe it was the acting?  I can't put my damn finger on it.  It didn't pull me in.  I felt like I was watching it through a foggy and smudged window.  Also the psychedelic crap scenes they had between Cherie and Joan made it seem more like the biopic of The Doors and just felt completely out of place to the rest of the film.

Well, at least I can say I saw it.  Don't think I really have any intention of seeing it again, even if it was to play on the TV as just background noise while I did some work (that's saying a lot coming from me LOL).  I say, watch it if you are curious about the history behind the band, but that's about it.

However, finding out that it was based off of a book by Cherie Currie, just makes me wonder if the book was any better then the movie.  Gosh I hope so...