The Runaways

The Runaways is rock ’n’ roll defanged. There is certainly a story worth telling here—about the inauspicious beginnings and the sudden end of one of the first all-girl rock bands—but it loses itself in the ephemera. Joan Jett went on to become, well, Joan Jett, and she’s one of the producers of this biopic, which casts Twilight’s Kristen Stewart as the leather-clad teenage Jett. Very few young actresses tap into nervous energy the way Stewart does, and while it works for Bella Swan, it’s the wrong note for Jett. As troubled lead singer Cherie Currie, Dakota Fanning doesn’t seem much like a little girl anymore; maybe it’s because she sings the band’s classic “Cherry Bomb” in lingerie. There’s not nearly enough attitude here, and what there is seems misplaced. The sonic boom of The Runaways’ break-up, which ought to be some sort of climactic moment, receives little attention or explanation. In a sad way, it’s the appropriate ending for this film.