"The Runaways" (2009) Review

The opening of "The Runaways" gives the film an edge that you hope it can sustain. We open on Joan Jett (Kristen Stewert) getting her first leather jacket, and Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning) getting her first period. These opening scenes show a different take on the rock biopic: starting young and not afraid to get it's hands dirty. Unfortunately, as the film moves on it loses that edge. It settles for the more conventional rock and roll biopic complete with full serving of sex, drugs, and bad decisions.

And that's too bad, because director Floria Sigismondi tries to show us something different in the first half of the film. Early scenes show the displacement these girls feel in society. Jett can't get anyone to take her seriously with an electric guitar, and Cherie is booed of stage at her talent show for singing David Bowie. Once they are brought together by the delightfully sleazy Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon) it's a lot of fun to see them shaped into a kick ass rock and roll outfit from the cramped interior of a trailer in the valley. It's once the girls leave that trailer and hit the road that the film regresses back into familiar territory.

If there is one thing that holds the attention for the remainder of the film, it's the performances. Despite the title of the film, the focus is put mostly on Jett and Curie rather than the rest of the band. Luckily, both Stewart and Fanning are pretty good here. Stewart definitely delivers more as Jett. She is not interested in fame or the sex appeal of the band, she is there for the music. Dakota Fanning is a bit more hit or miss. She is great in the first half as a girl who treats her sexuality like a kid who found dad's gun: she is excited by it, but doesn't see the dangers inherent. Once she becomes a drugged out wreck in the latter half of the film, Fanning's performance is less and less interesting. However, the most impressive performance in the film comes from Micheal Shannon as the architect of The Runaways: Kim Fowley. He makes Fowley disgusting and electrifying all at the same time. His absence in the later parts of the story leaves a hole that Sigismondi tries to cover with more sex, drugs, and music montages, but these are no substitute for Shannon's special brand of crazy.

So we're left with a film that shows flashes of great potential, but ultimately takes the safest route down the music biopic path. The Runaways were an important part of music history. They proved that girls could rock just as hard as guys. Too bad the film version of their story isn't nearly as memorable.