Henry Saw: The Runaways

Some good performances but an uninteresting film...


The Runaways chronicles the rise and fall of the first all-girl hard rock bad of the same name. With a focus on Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) and Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning), and a strong supporting turn from Michael Shannon, the film follows the standard film play-by-play of sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll. Unfortunately for the movie, the music in the film is fairly horrid, we never care about any of the characters, and the stakes never matter. When one thinks of films in this sub-genre, from The Buddy Holly Story to Walk the Line, or the recently reviewed Nowhere Boy to Control, the one constant is they usually sell you on the artists' music. With no compelling plot threads or music to fall back on, The Runaways plays a completely unnecessary venture, a waste of some real talent.

So who were The Runaways? This is their only song you might know...



What's supposedly interesting about them is that they were the first girl group to "rock hard", and they were all jail-bait, as each member of the band was younger than 16 when they released their first album. They lasted 2 years in the late 1970's, and one of their founders went on write one of the most iconic songs of the 1980s. Their producer, a man named Kim Fowley, was a manic visionary who saw how easily he could exploit a band made up of teenage girls. That's all there is to their story. It's just not enough to fill a film; just as it wasn't enough to sustain an entire documentary (Edgeplay: A Film About The Runaways).

What surprised me most about the film was that Kristin Stewart actually impressed more than Dakota Fanning. Now this is partially a matter of circumstance, Fanning is asked to do more and Stewart is better cast, but it was still unexpected. Fanning is too frail, still too young looking, and too young in our mind's eye to play the part of Cherie. She is given the most development, and "biggest" moments, but Fanning never quite connects. In the far more reserved role, Stewart does not go to her usual bag of playing-with-her-hair tricks, and makes more of an impression. The only other actor of note is Michael Shannon playing Kim Fowler. Shannon, who was fantastic in Revolutionary Road, brings the same energy to the role of the corrupt record producer. Every scene with him is a treat, no matter how unlikeable the character may be.

The film's "plot" is never engrossing, the supporting actresses are all blanks, and the movie ends on an entirely blah note. It's not without merits, and I think writer/director Floria Sigismondi's heart is in the right place, but the material is not strong enough. Fine efforts from all involved but The Runaways is a skippable experience.

For your viewing pleasure...the actresses of the film perform Cherry Bomb:


Grade: C

Best Scene: Kristin Stewart and Michael Shannon writting Cherry Bomb