Review: The Runaways

The Runaways

OPENING: 03/19/2010

STUDIO: Apparition

RUN TIME: 109 min

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

The Charge
It’s 1975 and they’re about to explode.

Opening Statement
The Runaways was marketed as a biopic that would tell the story of the sweet but short-lived American all-girl rock band with the same name, headlined by vocalist Cherie Currie and rhythm guitarist Joan Jett. If this movie is guilty of anything, it would certainly be false advertising. The Runaways isn’t necessarily a terrible movie, but it’s too heavily focused on Currie’s character, rather than telling the story of the entire band, which was an ultimate letdown for me.

Facts of the Case
Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning, Coraline) is a worshipper of rock and roll and dreams of one day being a big time performer herself. With her father being a deadbeat and a drunk, and her mother (Tatum O’Neal, Rescue Me) ready to marry an Indonesian man and relocate to his home country, things don’t appear very optimistic for Currie and her dreams. That is, until she meets record producer Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans) and guitarist Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart, The Twilight Saga: New Moon), a young rebel with her own aspirations of making it big in the music business. After auditioning for the vocalist position, Currie joins Jett’s band along with three other girl musicians, and name themselves The Runaways. With the help of their manager, Fowley, the girls reach unprecedented popularity worldwide, and eventually earn themselves a major record deal with the label Mercury Records. However, the popularity eventually becomes too much for Currie to handle, and she becomes heavily addicted to both alcohol and drugs. With her addictions affecting both her band and her family in more ways than one, Currie has to find away to overcome her issues and get back to focusing on her promising rock and roll career.

The Evidence
The Runaways. The world’s very first all-girl rock and roll band. Finally, the girls get to kick a little behind and bask in the limelight for a little bit. Right? Well…all of that may be true, but the way this film was written just doesn’t give this historic group the justice they deserve. Instead, Fanning’s character is the one that is in the spotlight for a good 85-90% of the film, something I did not really see coming.

The movie is based on Currie’s autobiography/memoir which is titled Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway. In retrospect, it is kind of understandable why most of the film is about her doings and activities on the road while trying to maintain a normal relationship with her family back home in California. However, the film was marketed in a way that made me feel as if this movie would tell every Runaway member’s story. The tagline has the word “they’re” in it. The trailer is narrated using the word “we”. Using those words in advertising – not to mention titling the film The Runaways – is going to lead a lot of patrons to believe they’re going to be watching a film focused more on the entire band instead of just the band’s singer. Therefore, the way this film was advertised was horribly misleading, and in the long run may harm the film rather than aid it.

Now despite this film’s dishonesty, there are a number of positive reasons to go see this flick. The music in the movie is absolutely electric, and the vocals done by both Fanning and Stewart sound very good. Michael Stewart’s portrayal of Fowley is pure brilliance. The eccentric, over-the-top lessons he gives to the girls on how to act like boys on and off the stage are extremely hilarious, certainly the most memorable parts of the movie for me.

And how about Dakota Fanning? After seeing this film, it’s hard to believe that she is only four years removed from portraying the young Fern in Charlotte’s Web. If ever there was a role for her to break out of that “Child Actress” typecast she is so often associated with, this was certainly the one to do it. We’ve seen her as a rape victim in the movie Hounddog, but this film puts her in situations we’ve never seen her in before. Be prepared to witness Fanning willingly giving quickies, seducing her roadie in a risqué corset outfit, and snorting coke and chugging booze with the rest of the rebellious rockers. Dakota was given the majority of the screen time in this movie, and she takes advantage of it to the utmost degree. Great performance from a very gifted actress. Look for her to be cast into some more adult-oriented roles from here on in.

Kristen Stewart plays Joan Jett with skill, acting like a real badass throughout the entire film. The thing that bothers me is how secondary her character is; a demerit for director/writer Floria Sigismondi. I personally would’ve liked to see more of the story dedicated to Jett, and it’s surprising how little of Jett’s background was revealed to us with the actual Joan Jett serving as executive producer for this movie. If not for the fact that The Runaways went through six different bassists (the one in the movie was a fictitious character) during their brief tenure, the film could have been more interesting with the use of an ensemble cast. Sadly this was not the case, and The Runaways really isn’t about The Runaways at all. It’s more like the Cherie Currie story. And for people expecting to garner some knowledge about the historic rock and roll band, you’re going to leave the theater in a pretty disappointed state of mind.

Closing Statement
The Runaways is more or less a ch-ch-cherry BOMB. Despite its good music, and solid acting, the film is too guilty of false advertising to be salvaged from the forgettable file. If you’re really interested in learning more about the world’s first all-girl rock band, watch a documentary or check out a couple of their albums. If you’re strictly a Cherie Currie fan, this film is for you. But if that isn’t the case, don’t let Hollywood runaway with your money. It’s not worth it.

The Verdict
6/10

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