The Runaways

This is the story of the 70’s all-girl punk-rock band The Runaways, starring Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett and Dakota Fanning as front woman Cherie Currie.  Knowing nothing about the history of the band or any of their music, it was really interesting to see how they got started.  The movie starts out following Joan and Cherie, leading separate yet parallel lives on their way to stardom.  Both just 15, we see their shared love for music even before they meet.  Cherie is obsessed with David Bowie, and Joan just wants to rock out.  It was different times back then, a time when girls were only supposed to play acoustic guitars and if you were a girl who wanted to play electric guitar you weren't taken seriously.  Even though the band was formed as some sort of novelty act (much like the boy band surge of the 90's), the girls had musical chops.  Through practice and perseverance, The Runaways paid their dues and gained international fame along the way.  The brains and testosterone behind the operation was their manager Kim Fowley (played by the always intense and creepy Michael Shannon), a sleazy eccentric who exploits the band's youth and sexuality to sell the music.  While the ploy does work, it is at the expense of their innocence, especially for Cherie who succumbs to the excesses of drugs and alcohol and eventually leaves the band.  Fanning does a convincing job of playing Cherie from naive teen to burnt-out junkie, and Stewart is also great at portraying Joan as a girl trying to break through the walls of social convention with a rebel yell.  While the story felt a little formulaic - band rises to fame, band turns to drugs, band breaks up... it's the oldest story in the book - I still really enjoyed the bumpy ride of The Runaways' journey.  It's empowering to see young girls rocking out in a time when they were just expected to put out.


3 out of 5 stars