The Runaways (2010)

Wonderful character development!

terrible... so disappointed.

Fantastic!

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

I was reading someone else's review of this film, and he asked the question in my summary heading. The answer to that is simply. Joan Jett was the executive producer and Cherie Curries book was the basis of the story. Lita Ford was written off as a villain, and Jackie Fox was background scenery. Had this film been made today, I don't think Jackie's story would have been left out. Ironically Jackie went on to become a graduate of Harvard Law School and came out with her story of being raped by Fowley. Micki Steele's involvement would have been interesting as well. What a shame. I'll look forward to a real documentary about this band in the future that tells the complete story of everyone, and isn't transformed into the Joan Jett show. I would expect this from Gene Simmons. I gave this an 8 because at least two members got to tell their story, and problems associated with this band's startup. Also it shows what a jerk Kim was to the human race.

Released in 2010, "The Runaways" chronicles the quick rise and fall of all-girl rock band The Runaways who released four albums from 1976-1978. I mean "girl" literally since they WERE girls at the time; for instance, when the band was formed in late 1975 singer Cherie Currie just turned 16 years-old. The movie is lightly based on Currie's book Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway and therefore focuses on the friendship of Cherie (Dakota Fanning) and Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) and their relationship with their eccentric manager Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon). Riley Keough plays Cherie's "better looking" sister while Scout Taylor-Compton and Stella Maeve play band members Lita Ford and Sandy West.The Runaways had some brief success in the late 70s, but they quickly nosedived because they were teenagers and simply couldn't handle the pressures and temptations of the 70's rock 'n' roll lifestyle, particularly Cherie. The movie successfully illustrates this. Of course "Cherry Bomb" was a fairly well known song but, beyond this, they just weren't that popular. They were a here-today-gone-tomorrow act; a minor blip in rock history. You could say they were a good "farm band" for the more popular Joan Jett and Lita Ford. Speaking of the latter, Scout Taylor-Compton looks uncannily like her, but the character is given short shrift in favor of Jett and Currie. While this is understandable given that the movie was based on Currie's book and the short 96-minute runtime, there's no excuse for ignoring Lita at the end when the movie cites what the characters went on to accomplish. Since Ford was the second most successful Runaway in the music business, second only to Jett, this is inexcusable.Despite this grave transgression, the movie works because of the great performances of the principle actors. Shannon is particularly effective as the freakish Fowley (who passed away in 2015 at the age of 75). Unfortunately, with a movie that's only an hour and a half long they can only tell so much of the story. Currie described the real story as epic and that the movie is just a "lighter kind of flash" of what The Runaways were for two and a half years. Being a 70's rock biopic of teenage girls you can expect the sex & drugs elements with profanity, crudeness and a dismal pall. Like 1991's "The Doors," the movie doesn't show much of the fun side of rock 'n' roll.If you can look beyond the vulgarity and ugliness, however, the movie has (some) heart. For instance, the genuine friendship of Jett and Currie, which can be observed in the phone call at the end; and the loving relationship of Cherie and her sister Marie. The sisters went on to record a couple albums together – 1978's BEAUTY'S ONLY SKIN DEEP and 1980's MESSIN' WITH THE BOYS – but their music career failed to go further due to Cherie's problems with drug dependency.I liked this movie better the second time I watched it. It's too crude and dreary for my tastes and it lags here and there, but it makes up for it with effective performances and the warm relationships noted above. Plus it has a rockin' soundtrack. If you watch recent interviews, you'll observe that Lita and Cherie grew up to be palpably honorable, beautiful women. Joan's cool too, of course; she's just not my cup of java, although I like some of her songs. The film was shot in the Los Angeles area.GRADE: B- (6.5/10)

This was pretty good; dirty, raunchy, in your face and capturing the spirit and essence of the mid 1970's perfectly.The story follows the conception and early days of "The Runaways" an all girl punk band that took the world by storm and focuses mostly on the tumultuous relationship between Joan Jett and Cherie Currie.I'll admit to questioning the casting here and initially having a hard time excepting Dakota Fanning in the role of sex-kitten junkie Currie. She does a fantastic job though and her downward spiral was the part of the story that interested me the most. I'm not a huge fan of K-Stew but she looks just like and captures the toughness of Joan Jett really well. I did get tired of seeing her in leather pants in every single scene though. The clothes and hair in general are super fun, the music is great, the story as a whole felt kinda disjointed. Michael Shannon is suitably weird/sleazy as their manager. 8/12/14

What does one say about a movie that's really good but could have been a great?First off. Why was it really good? Well because The Runaways were the first all female rock band that wrote their material and played their instruments. The fact they were charismatic eye candy was a bonus for us males - so God bless'em for that. That makes this an important movie.This type of genre tends to fall flat on its face, especially for musicians, when an actor is cast that can't play their respective instrument or mime the vocals. So when Joan Jett (played by the very gifted Kristen Stewart)is playing the guitar and singing, it appears authentic. Didn't hurt that Kristen resembles Joan Jett either.Dakota Fanning is another gifted actress. Only difference is she exudes a wholesomeness that should have banned her from playing the role of Cherie Currie. But she handled it like a true pro. Folks. we're talking," Sex, Drugs, Booze and Rock N Roll." Plus, she sings amazingly well on these tracks. Casting Elvis Presley's granddaughter as Cherie's twin sister Marie was a great choice. The role was small but gave her the opportunity to mix-it-up with the pros and shine.Now.How could it have been made great? Well,simple; more emphasis on the other band members, especially Joan Jett. The story line leaned too heavily on Cherie's family life leaving me wanting to know more about the other group members family life. I still don't know diddly-squat about Lita Ford's life. We actually get to see Sandy West's Mom's horrified reaction after Kim Fowley comes to their home. And as for Joan's family life? Well forget about it. Not a peep.And I don't recall the bass player, Robin, played by Alia Shawkat from the sitcom Arrested Development having any dialogue! We see they played in Japan. But did they play at CBGB's ? It desperately needed that kind of balance.It would also have been nice to show a photo of the real-life Runaways in 1976 that morphs into how they look today, just before the ending credits. Cliché? absolutely. Relevant? Very much so.As a final note, the commentary is not to be missed. It has Joan Jett, Kristen and Dakota dishing out morsels of interesting background info. It too is rated R because of Kristen's penchant for whimsical profanity.