The Runaways (2010)

THE RUNAWAYS (2010).
Directed by Floria Sigismondi. Written by Floria Sigismondi. Starring Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Scout Taylor-Compton, Michael Shannon, Tatum O'Neal, Riley Keough, Stella Maeve, Alia Shawcat, Johnny Lewis, and Brett Cullen.

Plot: Manufactured all-girl teen rock band The Runaways' rise to fame and fall from grace through the eyes of Joan Jett and Cherie Currie, barely acknowledging Lita Ford's existence.

But maybe that's the way it was, and Ford only became big on her own, in the hair-metal '80s.

In any event, this is a pretty standard biopic with an interesting subject matter; it's not as 'artistic' as Control, but it's more faithful to the accepted storyline than JFK. It's written and told in a pretty straightforward manner, but when you're familiar with the characters being played, you can't help but tip your hat to the quality of the acting in the movie, particularly Michael Shannon as Kim Fowley and Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see Stewart nominated for an Oscar and walking away with a Golden Globe; she has Jett down to a T.

Dakota Fanning does a commendable job as drug-addled lead singer Cherie Currie, but Stewart and Shannon upstage her every chance they get - and that's pretty often.

It's too bad the film was based solely on Currie's autobiography and was produced by Jett - it skims through the other characters' roles in the making of this band too quickly, perhaps leading to the audience missing out on key elements that needed to be told. As such, it's close to being the female equivalent of Oliver Stone's The Doors, which focused a little too much on Jim Morrison's antics.

3.5/5