Watching: The Runaways

Tonight I watched The Runaways.

This is the story of the talented but short-lived band The Runaways. Now be forewarned, if you are interested in anything about the band besides Joan Jett & Cherie Currie you aren't going to get much out of this film. Basically that is my biggest gripe with the film. You'd think the rest of the band was just a few cardboard cutouts digitally inserted into the movie to fill out the band. I understand that Kristen Stewart & Dakota Fanning were the top billed actresses, however this was supposed to be the story about the band and not just them. My favorite performance in the film is by Michael Shannon who plays Kim Fowler, the bands founder and and sleazy manager.

The film follows the typical format you'd expect. Fame at a young age can propel some while destroying others. Joan Jett goes on to rock & roll infamy later in life, while Currie returns to a relatively pedestrian life by hollywood standards. I am not sure why the closing character "where they are now" summaries did not include anyone else from the band, especially considering Lita Ford went on to have a pretty successful career after the Runaways disbanded. I believe Lita Ford wanted nothing to do with this film, but don't quote me on that. Joan Jett was listed as an executive producer.

The film itself is not bad perse, but I just felt it really missed the boat on exactly what it is supposed to deliver. I wanted to know more about the band itself. The background of all the members, what they all were thinking, what they all ended up going on to do later in life.

There is an excellent documentary floating around the internet called Edgeplay: A Film About the Runaways'. It's on youtube, broken up into multiple parts. If you are actually interested in the history and story of this band, I recommend watching that at least as a companion piece. It features extensive interviews with every member of the band besides Joan Jett, who oddly enough decided not to participate. However there is plenty of perspective out there from her in various other outlets, that it doesn't come off feeling like something is missing the way The Runaways does. The documentary really seems to give off the vibe that any "good times" in this band were heavily outweighed by the bad times. Also, it really makes Kim Fowler come off as a much bigger scumbag than he is portrayed in the film. If he accounts from all the ladies are accurate, he got off rather easy in the film.

Overall, I give this film:

2 angry-rebellious teenage chicks out of 5.

Go find and watch the documentary as a companion piece or even instead of the movie.