By Kevin Kelly
I'll be blunt about this: I really wasn't looking forward to this movie. I'm not the biggest fan of lip-chewing, hair-twirling Kristen Stewart, or the wide-eyed, blank face expert Dakota Fanning. I love rock and roll (so put another dime in the jukebox, baby) as much as the next person, but these two starring in a movie about an all-girl, teen sensation, flash in the pan band from the 1970s? I just didn't think they could pull it off. Hey, at least I'm big enough to admit I was wrong. The Runaways rocked the Joan Jett / Cherie Currie backstory's pants off (literally), and I'll be buying the soundtrack, which features K-Stew and D-Fan singing the blasts from the past.
However, this movie really should have been called The Joan Jett & Cherie Currie Show, because the other Runaways are hardly featured in this movie at all. Sandy West (who co-founded the band with Joan Jett), and Lita Ford's stories aren't given much attention in the film, and Ford seems to exist just to cause drama. Additionally, The Runaways had six different bass players during their short four-year history (including Micki Steele who went on to The Bangles) so the filmmakers decided to create a fictional girl named Robin Robins. She's played by Alia Shawkat of Arrested Development fame, and she unfortunately gets only one or two lines.
Although he's not given as much screen time as Fanning and Stewart, Michael Shannon takes this movie, straps it to his back, and walks away with it completely. He plays their over the top manager Kim Fowley, and he looks like Frankenstein meets David Bowie. He chews up scenery left and right and steals every moment he's onscreen, even when he has no lines. At one point, he just gives a monsterly grimace on the other end of a phone call, and owns that entire moment. When he realizes he's bottled the lightning, he caws "You bitches are gonna be bigger than the fucking Beatles!" Although the relationship between Currie and Jett is caustic at times, Fowley is definitely the bad guy in this movie.
In the effort of cramming their story into two hours, the film rushes through the Joan Jett story as she rags on her guitar teacher for trying to instruct her with "On Top Of Old Smoky" and telling her "Girls don't play electric guitar." In a blink, she's meeting Kim Fowley at Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco in Hollywood, and Fowley, smelling money and opportunity, introduces Jett to drummer Sandy West. They start jamming with Fowley listening, who is seemingly coked to the gills with a bent towards pedophilia. He decides the band needs, as he so eloquently illustrates with his finger pointed at a woman's crotch, more sex. He and Jett go trolling for the face of the band back at Bingenheimer's, where they find Mountain Dew-sipping Fanning, complete with feathered-blonde hair, and ask her to audition.
Fast-forward to Jett and West now with Lita Ford and their fictitious bass player rehearsing in a ramshackle trailer in the Valley. Currie shows up to audition, having rehearsed a Suzi Quatro cover song all night, but Fowley quickly nixes it. They end up writing "Cherry Bomb" on the spot, and with some coaxing, Currie nails it. Then he puts the girls through rock and roll boot camp, which includes teenaged boys throwing trash and dogshit at them, so they can learn how to deal with hecklers. With lightning speed, they're off and running, playing parties in Los Angeles, hitting the road for shows, cutting a record, and touring Japan.
But the real story takes place in the cracks between the electric soundtrack. Kristen Stewart steps out of her normal angsty girl act and nails down the punk rock, hard as nails Jett, and Fanning is equally as good with her disconnected portrayal of Currie, who is dealing with the fact that she's abandoning her alcoholic father and her twin sister Marie (played as fraternal in the movie, although they were identical in real life) to embrace a life of rock and roll. It's not long before the girls are full-on in the swing of drugs while on the road, and Fanning and Stewart share an extremely intimate kiss on the floor of a skating rink before the camera swirls them up into a heavily implied sex scene, which is something the movie doesn't shy away from. We see Fowley banging some woman while on a phone call, Currie having sex in a dressing room, and Jett teaching Sandy West how to masturbate ... to Farrah Fawcett.
The Runaways flamed out in four quick years, although that timeline feels a lot shorter in this film. By the time the band begins to break up, it only feels like a few months have passed, and that's the only real fault in the movie. To try and keep this under two hours long, they've compacted four years of the first influential, teenaged, all-girl rock band into the Almost Famous story. By the end of the film, Jett is enjoying the rise of her solo fame, and Currie has taken a different path. There are crawls telling us what happened to Jett, Currie, and Fowley, but no mention of the other Runaways, which mirrors the movie. Powerful performances from Stewart, Fanning, and Shannon, and a song showcase that puts in bold what the Runaways were all about, while giving a bit of short shrift to the other band members. These girls were, for a very short time, the Queens of Noise. Fanning's concert performance of "Cherry Bomb" will be ringing in your ears for days.
One final note: Beware Twihards and Twi-Moms, this is not your sweet and innocent Bella. Kristen Stewart's Joan Jett urinates on electric guitars, pops pills, snorts coke, and loves other ladies. Just a fair warning.
Cinematica
Collider Review of the Runaways
With fantastic performances from Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning and Michael Shannon, The Runaways delivered the goods at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Based on the book Neon Angel: The Cherie Currie Story by Cherie Currie, The Runaways tells the coming-of-age story of the teenage rock band The Runaways and how they came together in the mid 1970’s. Kristen Stewart stars as Joan Jett, Dakota Fanning is Cherie Currie, and Michael Shannon stars as the über-eccentric Kim Fowley - the man who put The Runaways together.
While there was a lot of debate if the film would show a no-holds-barred account of what The Runaways really went through back in the 70’s - like the drug use and the in-band make-out sessions - not only does the film show a warts-and-all look at what happened to the band - at times you’ll feel like you’re watching documentary footage from the era as Stewart and Fanning are really playing and singing in the film, and they both deliver inspired performances.
The first thing to know is if you’re wishing you were at Sundance to see The Runaways, Apparition bought the film and it’ll be released in America on March 19, 2010. So it’s only a short wait.
The movie opens in 1975 Los Angeles. We’re quickly introduced to Joan Jett and Cherie Currie and what they were going through in their lives.
Jett was a loner trying to figure out her look and a way to play guitar when women were considered groupies and not members of a band. At the same time, Cherie Currie was a tenth grader idolizing David Bowie and hanging out in the same local clubs as Jett. When Joan Jett runs into Kim Fowley outside a venue, she pitches the idea of an all girls rock band and after some makeshift rehearsals and band auditions, The Runaways are born.
It’s when the group is forming that we get some awesome scenes of Michael Shannon as Kim Fowley. Also, to help get the group ready for the road and what being a rock star is all about, Fowley makes the girls go through band camp where he teaches them the ropes and delivers some killer dialogue. Remember, at the time, an all girls rock band had never been done and Fowley realizes he might have a huge hit on his hands. Finally after some local parties, the band hits the road and we watch as The Runaways make the big time.
As the journey unfolds, the teenage girls begin to experiment with drugs, their sexuality, and how to survive as a band, which Cherie Currie pushes too far in almost every way.
Again, the performances are fantastic across the board, and Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning really impressed me with their portrayals of these still-living rock stars.
What I really liked about the movie is that it doesn’t take any sides about The Runaways story. Writer/director Floria Sigismondi paints a realistic portrait of Los Angeles in 1975 and what was going on in Joan Jett’s and Cherie Currie’s lives. We get to see how each of them lived and what brought them together. And after they got famous and made it in the record industry, Sigismondi paints a portrait not of judgment or condemnation, but simply as it was. The story has enough ups and downs that she didn’t need to use a heavy hand to tell the story, which some filmmakers might have done.
The other thing to know about the film is that while the movie has a great supporting cast featuring Scout Taylor-Compton (Lita Ford), Alia Skawkat (Robin who is a fictional composite of all the people that played bass in the band), and Stella Maeve (Sandy West), they’re relegated to background players with only a few scenes. Sigismondi focuses on the Jett-Currie-Fowley relationship, and it’s a smart decision that pays off.
Of course what would a review of The Runaways be without some mention of the rumored make out scene between Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning?
Yes, the movie has such a scene, but it’s tastefully done. You never get the feeling that Sigismondi is using either actress more than is necessary to show the two had a night together. But it’ll be very interesting to see what the Twilight fans think of this scene, especially Stewart’s teenage fanbase.
My larger question is what parents are going to do with their kids who want to see Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett? Even though the film doesn’t glorify or condone any questionable action in the movie, you see Kristen Stewart (and Dakota Fanning) doing drugs, kissing girls, and walking around with not much clothing on. The Runaways is an R-rated film that explores a different era and I think depending on the kid, some parents may have to do some actual parenting and say that while Stewart plays Bella Swan and Joan Jett, Bella Swan is nothing like Joan Jett.
While some Sundance movies have a lot of buzz before the festival, The Runaways will ride its Sundance momentum into theaters this March and should be able to mint a lot of coin from worldwide audiences. Also, with a killer soundtrack and an honest portrayal of The Runaways, the band should enjoy a bump in sales and a lot of new fans finding their music.
But more than anything, The Runaways is a great movie filled with honest and real performances from its experienced and talented lead actors.
collider.com
Variety review of The Runaways
All-girl teenage band "The Runaways," once regarded as a prefab joke but now lionized as trailblazers, are the subject of Floria Sigismondi's first feature. Despite the helmer's multidisciplinary background, this proves a conventionally enjoyable making-and-breaking-of-the-band saga. Apparition plans a wide release May 19, which may lead to quick theatrical playoff since, apart from Runaways fans, the pic's ideal audience -- teenage girls who will find it inspirational and cool -- won't necessarily flock to an unfamiliar 35-year-old story. But the names of Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning at the top of the cast will help, and long ancillary life is assured.
The Runaways
The film was exec produced by Joan Jett, with Sigismondi's script drawn from Cherie Currie's 1989 autobiography "Neon Angel," and made with cooperation from other former Runaways (save subsequent heavy-metal guitar queen Lita Ford, who, not surprisingly, isn't given much screen time or sympathy).
This is in contrast to the 2005 feature doc "Edgeplay: A Film About the Runaways," in which everyone but Jett was involved. The docu dished a lot more dirt than this narrative recap, which both sweetens the band's tumultuous history and makes it a more traditional cautionary tale about the wild side of rock 'n' roll.
"The Runaways" does a good job setting the scene without laying on too much retro kitsch. It dutifully recalls the formation of the band: Rhythm guitarist Jett (Stewart) and drummer Sandy West (Stella Maeve) are hanging out in the Bacchanalian mid-'70s when they petition patronage from songwriter/producer/gadfly Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon), who likes their idea of assembling an all-girl (and well-underage) hard-rock group.
Blonde nymphet Currie (Fanning) is recruited for her looks, with signature song "Cherry Bomb" written on the spot when she shows up with Peggy Lee's "Fever" as her audition rather than the song assigned by Suzy Quatro (the Runaways' only real grrl-rocker model then). Combative Ford provides the flashy lead guitar licks, and … well, there were a lot of bassists (Alia Shawkat plays a conglomerate figure named "Robin").
With some in the band as young as 13 at the time of its formation, and nearly all from broken homes, they naturally find the pressures of touring and fame overwhelming. Fowley's manipulations and penny-pinching are no help; neither are the era's too-accessible hedonistic excesses. Loose emphasis is on the frisson between songwriter/peacemaker Jett and singer Currie, whose promotion as the act's sexploitative focus causes resentment among other members. Two are seen as having a Sapphic relationship of vague duration, while Currie also beds older roadie Scottie (Johnny Lewis). An abortion is omitted from pic's narrative, however.
The pic tends to exaggerate the group's impact since the band came on the scene when metalheads were certain "chicks can't rock." Mainstream rock 'n' pop auds found them too hard, while others viewed them as a gimmicky jailbait sideshow packaged by well-known weirdo Svengali Fowley. The group got a lot of attention but not much respect (or record sales for its three 1976-77 Mercury albums). Later, the pic shows them being greeted with superstar-level hysteria in Japan.
Presumably for legal reasons, allegations of abuse against Fowley (other than the verbal kind) are not addressed. (They are in "Edgeplay," wherein ex-Runaways wax positively vitriolic.)
Though sometimes her usual neurotic tics distract, "Twilight's" Stewart is a good fit for the tough but good-natured Jett, who carried on as frontwoman after Currie left, then launched a far more successful solo career. In line with many previous roles, Fanning emphasizes Currie's vulnerability -- making her a sexy nice-girl victim -- though the bratty, dangerously needy character seen in old clips, discussed by bandmates in "Edgeplay," and even glimpsed in Currie's own book, seems more interesting.
Shannon has a field day as the uniquely foul-mouthed, temperamentally perverse Fowley. Riley Keough has a substantial role as Currie's sister Marie; Tatum O'Neal and Brett Cullen appear very briefly as the Curries' divorced, neglectful parents.
Apart from some druggy scenes, the presentation is pretty straightforward, albeit energetic enough and benefiting from Benoit Debie's astute lensing. Other design/tech factors are solid. The soundtrack (which includes numerous other artists of the era) rocks, naturally.
Only Currie, Jett and Fowley are afforded where-are-they-now onscreen text epilogues, which seems unfair and should be corrected before release to include at least Ford and West. Runtime listed doesn't include the full final credits, which weren't on the Sundance premiere print.
by Dennis Harvey
variety
IFC Runaways Review
Coming-of-age movies are Sundance's stock in trade, but few announce themselves as boldly, and broadly, as "The Runaways," whose first shot is a splotch of menstrual blood hitting the pavement. Said splotch emanates from Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning), a suburban California teenager with a burgeoning David Bowie obsession and a surly sensuality just beginning to bloom.
Teenage sexuality has always been the wellspring of rock and roll, but the Runaways made themselves the aggressors, concocting an unstable mixture of empowerment and exploitation. Floria Sigismondi, who directed music videos for Marilyn Manson, Christina Aguilera and the White Stripes, has the story's girl-power framework well in hand. But in spite of that opening drop, the movie's evocation of the Runaways' rise and fall is short on the juices that make for great, trashy, disreputable rock. She crams Fanning into Currie's famous corset, and stages a passionate kiss between Currie and Jett before compressing their romantic relationship into a single softcore montage, but the movie is too tasteful and glossy to thoroughly embody the Runaways' quasi-pedophiliac appeal.
As much as for its characters, "The Runaways" is a rite of passage for its stars: Fanning, attempting to move beyond her preternaturally placid juvenile roles, and Kristen Stewart, whose volcanic Joan Jett runs hotter than the brooding teens she's played in, well, everything.
Fanning's occasionally eerie poise has left actors several times her age in awe, and she has no trouble stepping into the lead spot. The movie is organized around the relationship between Currie and Jett, to the virtual exclusion of the band's other members -- Scout Taylor-Compton, as guitar goddess Lita Ford, is generally little more than a scowling presence on the edge of the frame -- but it's tilted in Currie's favor, which is not surprising given that Currie's memoir is credited as the source material for Sigismondi's script. Her escalating substance abuse and her growing addiction to the rush of fame signal the beginning of the band's end. Apart from a passing mention, you'd never know that the Runaways continued for several years after Currie quit the band. Losing control, however, is not within the scope of Fanning's undeniable gifts. Even when she's collapsing in the lobby of a hotel in Tokyo or slumping to the bottom of a California phone booth, she's never as unstrung as she needs to be.
Stewart, on the other hand, makes a living by being a mess on-screen. Her emotions seem to pour out of her without passing through the filter of self-consciousness, an astonishing openness that can be mistaken for a lack of technique. As Jett, she's both available and impenetrable, a surefire recipe for rock stardom. She's closest to Currie, but she also shares a kindred spirit with the band's Machiavellian manager, Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon), a sleazy, foul-mouthed visionary who boils the band's songs down to a simple formula: "Fuck you, fuck authority, I want an orgasm!" Shannon's live-wire performance gives the movie a jolt it badly needs when he's not around. When he's on the screen, you never know what's going to happen next.
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