The Runaways (2010)

Highly entertaining biopic of the 1970s all-girl rock band adapted from Cherie Currie’s autobiography (Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway). It charts their rise to fame, aided by producer Kim Fowley (here played flamboyantly by Michael Shannon) and the group’s inevitable decline into drug hell and internal bickering. Visually and musically, it’s spot-on. Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart paint sympathetic portraits of Cherie Currie and Joan Jett respectively, and it’s their relationship that forms the heart of the story. Oddly, guitarist Lita Ford has been completely minimised to just a few lines. 

Like their records, it’s brash and loud – full of vitality and not especially subtle. But the storytelling is strong and the characters are convincing. I felt it skipped across events somewhat – you’d never guess from watching this that they recorded four albums – but perhaps that’s inevitable when a band’s career is squeezed down to a time that’s roughly equivalent to one of their gigs. 

The only slight criticism is that the seedier 1970s locations don't look dirty or grungy enough. Everything’s a little too clean – even when Joan Jett urinates on a guitar backstage. And the girls look like film stars (because they are) rather than ordinary kids in an extraordinary situation.