The Runaways (film)
Encyclopedia
The Runaways is a 2010 American biographical film
about the 1970s all-girl rock band of the same name
. The film was written and directed by Floria Sigismondi
, who based the screenplay on the book Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway by the band's original lead vocalist Cherie Currie
. Dakota Fanning
plays Currie, Kristen Stewart
plays rhythm guitarist and vocalist Joan Jett
, and Michael Shannon
plays record producer Kim Fowley
. The film depicts the formation of the band in 1975 and focuses on the relationship between Currie and Jett until Currie's departure from the band.
(Dakota Fanning
), a teenager in Los Angeles, California
desperately wants to be a rock star. She idolizes David Bowie
and cuts her hair and dons make-up so she will resemble Bowie's Aladdin Sane
character. At her high school talent show, she lip syncs to "Lady Grinning Soul
" and, despite some hecklers in the audience, wins.
Joan Jett
(Kristen Stewart
) is a bisexual
teenager who also dreams of rock stardom. At a club one night, she meets record producer Kim Fowley
(Michael Shannon
) and talks about starting an all-girl rock band. Kim is interested and introduces Joan to Sandy West
(Stella Maeve
), a drummer. Joan and Sandy become friends and start jamming when Kim suggests that they recruit a hot blonde in the vein of Brigitte Bardot
. Kim and Joan comb Los Angeles' clubs to look for hot blondes and discover Cherie. They ask if she wants to be in a band and she accepts. Then they tell her to come to auditions in a trailer park in the valley.
Cherie learns Suzi Quatro
's "Fever" and goes to audition, but the band is disappointed at her choice of song. Instead, Kim and Joan write "Cherry Bomb
", on the spot, for Cherie to audition with. Cherie sings it and, after improving, is part of the band, named the Runaways, joined by Lita Ford
(Scout Taylor-Compton
) on lead guitar and Robin (Alia Shawkat
) on bass.
The Runaways are soon signed to Mercury Records and release a hit album. Due to the album's success, they travel to Japan to play a concert. After their performance, Lita throws magazines at Cherie that have pictures of her. Cherie is shocked because she thought the articles were to cover the whole band. As Lita, Cherie, and Joan argue, crazy fans break through the window and chase the girls out of the building. Cherie's drug problems become worse. She overdoses in the hotel, collapses in an elevator and is sent to the hospital. Upon arriving back in the United States, Cherie begins to abuse her alcoholic father's painkillers.
At the studio recording their next album, Cherie has a breakdown and refuses to play. Lita insults her and though Joan defends her, Cherie quits the band. Joan is outraged, and the Runaways are finished. Cherie returns home while Joan starts her own band, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. Cherie collapses again in a phone booth in a supermarket parking lot. At the hospital, her sister, Marie, visits her and tells her to get her stuff straight.
A few years later, Cherie has landed a 9 to 5 job. She hears Joan's cover of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll
" on the radio and calls the station, where Joan is visiting for interviews. After an awkward conversation between Joan, Cherie, and radio host Rodney Bingenheimer
(Keir O'Donnell
), Cherie says her goodbyes and continues working, smiling when Joan's next song, "Crimson and Clover
", comes on the radio.
Note
Robin is a fictional character created for the movie as Jackie Fox
, the original bassist, refused usage of her name.
. Jett performed live in Park City
the evening before the premiere and premiere night. Its Hollywood premiere took place March 11 at the ArcLight Hollywood
. Its theatrical release in the United States began March 19.
April 9, by which time The Runaways had grossed approximately $2 million. It left theaters June 3 with a domestic gross of $3,573,653. Variety reported that the film's underperformance at the box office could have been due to underfunded marketing and a failure to find an audience with either an age demographic that would remember the band or with fans of Stewart for her performance in Twilight
(2008).
The Runaways was released on DVD
and Blu-ray in the United States on July 20, 2010.
of the San Francisco Chronicle
noted that the film "doesn't always tell the literal truth" about the band, but felt that "[m]ore crucially, it conveys precisely what it was like to be young in the mid-1970s [...] And in getting that one thing right—in capturing that strange combination of despair and frustrated energy—it gets everything right." Roger Ebert
gave The Runaways 3 stars out of 4, praising the performances of Shannon, Stewart and Fanning, while writing that the film's visuals and music "[helped] cover an underwritten script and many questions about the characters" which he found slimly developed. Dennis Harvey of Variety
gave the film a positive review, commenting that it "proves [to be a] conventionally enjoyable making-and-breaking-of-the-band saga" and goes on to compliment the cinematography and soundtrack. A. O. Scott
of The New York Times
felt that Sigismondi "infuses crucial scenes with a rough, energetic spirit, and shows a willingness to accept the contradictions inherent in the material without prurience, moralism or too much sentimentality." Even if The Runaways "hits a few too many standard music biography beats" and "may be a little too tame in the end", he added, "at its best it is just wild enough." Owen Gleiberman
of Entertainment Weekly
gave the film a B− and wrote that Sigismondi's "sixth sense for how the Runaways were bad-angel icons first and a rock & roll band second" was the "most entertaining thing about" the film, which he described as a "highly watchable if mostly run-of-the-mill group biopic". Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times
felt that the film, which she described as "a street-level snapshot" of the titular band's creation, should have featured Jett's story instead of staying "too narrowly focused" on that of Currie. David Edelstein of New York Magazine gave the film a less positive review, commenting that "since the music itself is secondary, there’s not a lot to this story," and adding "It’s Fanning’s movie: You can taste the ex–child actor’s relish for playing jailbait."
Time magazine praised the acting in the film, in particular the work of Dakota Fanning, stating that Fanning "turns in a performance of startling maturity", "seduces us utterly" and is "like a mini--Meryl Streep".
The film also includes "Lady Grinning Soul
" by David Bowie
, "Fujiyama Mama" by Wanda Jackson
, "Do You Wanna Touch Me
" by Gary Glitter
, "Gimme Danger" by Iggy & The Stooges, "Vincent" by Don McLean
, "I Love Rock 'n' Roll
", "Bad Reputation" and "I Want You" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. Kristen Stewart
also covers the Runaways' "I Love Playin' With Fire" in the film. The film included 34 credited songs, leaving 20 out of the official soundtrack, and did not have an official composer.
Biographical film
A biographical film, or biopic , is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or people. They differ from films “based on a true story” or “historical films” in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a person’s life story or at least the most historically important years of their...
about the 1970s all-girl rock band of the same name
The Runaways
The Runaways were an American all-girl rock band that recorded and performed in the second half of the 1970s. The band released four studio albums and one live set during its run. Among its best known songs: "Cherry Bomb", "Queens of Noise", "Neon Angels On the Road to Ruin", "California Paradise"...
. The film was written and directed by Floria Sigismondi
Floria Sigismondi
Floria Sigismondi is an Italian, naturalised Canadian, photographer and director.Apart from her art exhibitions, she is best known for writing and directing The Runaways, starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning...
, who based the screenplay on the book Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway by the band's original lead vocalist Cherie Currie
Cherie Currie
Cherie Currie is an American singer, actress and chainsaw artist. Currie was the lead vocalist of The Runaways, a hard rock band from Los Angeles in the mid-to-late 1970s.-Life and career:...
. Dakota Fanning
Dakota Fanning
Hannah Dakota Fanning , better known as Dakota Fanning, is an American actress. Fanning's breakthrough performance was in I Am Sam in 2001. As a child actress, she appeared in high-profile films such as Man on Fire, War of the Worlds, and Charlotte's Web...
plays Currie, Kristen Stewart
Kristen Stewart
Kristen Jaymes Stewart is an American actress. She is best known for playing Bella Swan in The Twilight Saga. She has also starred in films including Panic Room , Zathura , In the Land of Women , The Messengers , Adventureland and The Runaways .- Early life :Stewart was born and raised in Los...
plays rhythm guitarist and vocalist Joan Jett
Joan Jett
Joan Jett is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and actress.She is best known for her work with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts including their hit cover "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", which was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 from March 20 to May 1, 1982, as well as for their other popular...
, and Michael Shannon
Michael Shannon (actor)
Michael Corbett Shannon is an American stage, film, and television actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Revolutionary Road...
plays record producer Kim Fowley
Kim Fowley
Kim Vincent Fowley is an American record producer, impresario, songwriter, musician, film maker, and radio actor. He is best known for his role behind a string of novelty and cult rock pop singles in the 1960s, and for managing The Runaways in the 1970s...
. The film depicts the formation of the band in 1975 and focuses on the relationship between Currie and Jett until Currie's departure from the band.
Plot
Cherie CurrieCherie Currie
Cherie Currie is an American singer, actress and chainsaw artist. Currie was the lead vocalist of The Runaways, a hard rock band from Los Angeles in the mid-to-late 1970s.-Life and career:...
(Dakota Fanning
Dakota Fanning
Hannah Dakota Fanning , better known as Dakota Fanning, is an American actress. Fanning's breakthrough performance was in I Am Sam in 2001. As a child actress, she appeared in high-profile films such as Man on Fire, War of the Worlds, and Charlotte's Web...
), a teenager in Los Angeles, California
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
desperately wants to be a rock star. She idolizes David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
and cuts her hair and dons make-up so she will resemble Bowie's Aladdin Sane
Aladdin Sane
Aladdin Sane is the sixth album by David Bowie, released by RCA Records in 1973 . The follow-up to his breakthrough The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, it was the first album Bowie wrote and released as a bona fide rock star...
character. At her high school talent show, she lip syncs to "Lady Grinning Soul
Lady Grinning Soul
"Lady Grinning Soul" is a ballad written by David Bowie, which is the final track on the album Aladdin Sane, released in 1973. The composer’s first meeting with American soul singer Claudia Lennear in 1972 is often cited as the inspiration for the song....
" and, despite some hecklers in the audience, wins.
Joan Jett
Joan Jett
Joan Jett is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and actress.She is best known for her work with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts including their hit cover "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", which was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 from March 20 to May 1, 1982, as well as for their other popular...
(Kristen Stewart
Kristen Stewart
Kristen Jaymes Stewart is an American actress. She is best known for playing Bella Swan in The Twilight Saga. She has also starred in films including Panic Room , Zathura , In the Land of Women , The Messengers , Adventureland and The Runaways .- Early life :Stewart was born and raised in Los...
) is a bisexual
Bisexuality
Bisexuality is sexual behavior or an orientation involving physical or romantic attraction to both males and females, especially with regard to men and women. It is one of the three main classifications of sexual orientation, along with a heterosexual and a homosexual orientation, all a part of the...
teenager who also dreams of rock stardom. At a club one night, she meets record producer Kim Fowley
Kim Fowley
Kim Vincent Fowley is an American record producer, impresario, songwriter, musician, film maker, and radio actor. He is best known for his role behind a string of novelty and cult rock pop singles in the 1960s, and for managing The Runaways in the 1970s...
(Michael Shannon
Michael Shannon (actor)
Michael Corbett Shannon is an American stage, film, and television actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Revolutionary Road...
) and talks about starting an all-girl rock band. Kim is interested and introduces Joan to Sandy West
Sandy West
Sandy West was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and drummer. She was hailed by fans and critics alike to be a groundbreaking musician, as a drummer. She was one of the founding members of The Runaways, the very first teenage, all-girl hard rock band in the 1970s.-Early life:Sandy was...
(Stella Maeve
Stella Maeve
Stella Maeve Johnston is a young American television and film actress. She is best known for her roles in Gossip Girl and in the indie films Harold, The Beautiful Ordinary...
), a drummer. Joan and Sandy become friends and start jamming when Kim suggests that they recruit a hot blonde in the vein of Brigitte Bardot
Brigitte Bardot
Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot is a French former fashion model, actress, singer and animal rights activist. She was one of the best-known sex-symbols of the 1960s.In her early life, Bardot was an aspiring ballet dancer...
. Kim and Joan comb Los Angeles' clubs to look for hot blondes and discover Cherie. They ask if she wants to be in a band and she accepts. Then they tell her to come to auditions in a trailer park in the valley.
Cherie learns Suzi Quatro
Suzi Quatro
Susan Kay "Suzi" Quatro is an American singer-songwriter, bass player, and actor.She scored a string of hit singles in the 1970s that found greater success in Europe and Australia than in her homeland, and had a recurring role on the popular American sitcom Happy Days.-Music:Quatro began her...
's "Fever" and goes to audition, but the band is disappointed at her choice of song. Instead, Kim and Joan write "Cherry Bomb
Cherry Bomb (song)
"Cherry Bomb" is a 1976 punk-influenced hard rock song by the all-girl band The Runaways off of their self-titled debut album. It is widely regarded by many as the band's signature song. "Cherry Bomb" was also ranked 52nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs...
", on the spot, for Cherie to audition with. Cherie sings it and, after improving, is part of the band, named the Runaways, joined by Lita Ford
Lita Ford
Lita Ford is a British-born, American rock musician and singer who was the lead guitarist for The Runaways and achieved popularity for her solo career between the 1980s and late 2000s.-Early life:...
(Scout Taylor-Compton
Scout Taylor-Compton
Scout Taylor-Compton is an American actress and singer. She has appeared in numerous small television roles and in feature films that range from dramas to those in the horror genre....
) on lead guitar and Robin (Alia Shawkat
Alia Shawkat
Alia Martine Shawkat is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Maeby Fünke in the Fox series Arrested Development.- Personal life :...
) on bass.
The Runaways are soon signed to Mercury Records and release a hit album. Due to the album's success, they travel to Japan to play a concert. After their performance, Lita throws magazines at Cherie that have pictures of her. Cherie is shocked because she thought the articles were to cover the whole band. As Lita, Cherie, and Joan argue, crazy fans break through the window and chase the girls out of the building. Cherie's drug problems become worse. She overdoses in the hotel, collapses in an elevator and is sent to the hospital. Upon arriving back in the United States, Cherie begins to abuse her alcoholic father's painkillers.
At the studio recording their next album, Cherie has a breakdown and refuses to play. Lita insults her and though Joan defends her, Cherie quits the band. Joan is outraged, and the Runaways are finished. Cherie returns home while Joan starts her own band, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. Cherie collapses again in a phone booth in a supermarket parking lot. At the hospital, her sister, Marie, visits her and tells her to get her stuff straight.
A few years later, Cherie has landed a 9 to 5 job. She hears Joan's cover of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll
I Love Rock 'n' Roll
"I Love Rock 'n Roll" is a rock song written in 1975 by Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker of Arrows, who recorded the first released version. The song was later made famous by the hit version recorded by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts in 1981....
" on the radio and calls the station, where Joan is visiting for interviews. After an awkward conversation between Joan, Cherie, and radio host Rodney Bingenheimer
Rodney Bingenheimer
Rodney Bingenheimer, born December 15, 1947, is a radio disc jockey on the long-running Los Angeles rock station KROQ who is notable for helping numerous iconic bands become successful in the American market. His contribution to the music business has been described as important...
(Keir O'Donnell
Keir O'Donnell
Keir O'Donnell is an Australian actor best known for his roles in the comedy films Wedding Crashers and Paul Blart: Mall Cop...
), Cherie says her goodbyes and continues working, smiling when Joan's next song, "Crimson and Clover
Crimson and Clover
"Crimson and Clover" is a 1968 song by American rock band Tommy James and the Shondells. Written by the duo of Tommy James and drummer Peter Lucia Jr., it was intended as a change in direction of the group's sound and composition....
", comes on the radio.
Note
Robin is a fictional character created for the movie as Jackie Fox
Jackie Fox
Jacqueline Louise Fuchs is an entertainment attorney in Los Angeles, CA. Under her former stage name of Jackie Fox, she was best known as bassist for the teenage, American all-girl rock band, The Runaways...
, the original bassist, refused usage of her name.
Cast
- Dakota FanningDakota FanningHannah Dakota Fanning , better known as Dakota Fanning, is an American actress. Fanning's breakthrough performance was in I Am Sam in 2001. As a child actress, she appeared in high-profile films such as Man on Fire, War of the Worlds, and Charlotte's Web...
as Cherie CurrieCherie CurrieCherie Currie is an American singer, actress and chainsaw artist. Currie was the lead vocalist of The Runaways, a hard rock band from Los Angeles in the mid-to-late 1970s.-Life and career:... - Kristen StewartKristen StewartKristen Jaymes Stewart is an American actress. She is best known for playing Bella Swan in The Twilight Saga. She has also starred in films including Panic Room , Zathura , In the Land of Women , The Messengers , Adventureland and The Runaways .- Early life :Stewart was born and raised in Los...
as Joan JettJoan JettJoan Jett is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and actress.She is best known for her work with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts including their hit cover "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", which was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 from March 20 to May 1, 1982, as well as for their other popular... - Stella MaeveStella MaeveStella Maeve Johnston is a young American television and film actress. She is best known for her roles in Gossip Girl and in the indie films Harold, The Beautiful Ordinary...
as Sandy WestSandy WestSandy West was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and drummer. She was hailed by fans and critics alike to be a groundbreaking musician, as a drummer. She was one of the founding members of The Runaways, the very first teenage, all-girl hard rock band in the 1970s.-Early life:Sandy was... - Scout Taylor-ComptonScout Taylor-ComptonScout Taylor-Compton is an American actress and singer. She has appeared in numerous small television roles and in feature films that range from dramas to those in the horror genre....
as Lita FordLita FordLita Ford is a British-born, American rock musician and singer who was the lead guitarist for The Runaways and achieved popularity for her solo career between the 1980s and late 2000s.-Early life:... - Michael ShannonMichael Shannon (actor)Michael Corbett Shannon is an American stage, film, and television actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Revolutionary Road...
as Kim FowleyKim FowleyKim Vincent Fowley is an American record producer, impresario, songwriter, musician, film maker, and radio actor. He is best known for his role behind a string of novelty and cult rock pop singles in the 1960s, and for managing The Runaways in the 1970s... - Johnny LewisJohnny LewisJonathan Kendrick "Johnny" Lewis , also credited as Johnny K. Lewis, is an American actor.-Life and career:Lewis began making television appearances while in his late teens with guest starring roles in American Dreams , Boston Public , and The Guardian , among others...
as Scottie, roadie and love interest to Cherie Currie - Alia ShawkatAlia ShawkatAlia Martine Shawkat is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Maeby Fünke in the Fox series Arrested Development.- Personal life :...
as Robin, the band's fictional bassist (Jackie FoxJackie FoxJacqueline Louise Fuchs is an entertainment attorney in Los Angeles, CA. Under her former stage name of Jackie Fox, she was best known as bassist for the teenage, American all-girl rock band, The Runaways...
was not portrayed). - Riley KeoughRiley KeoughDanielle Riley Keough , known as Riley Keough, is an American actress and model. She is the daughter of singer/songwriter Lisa Marie Presley and Danny Keough, and the oldest grandchild of Elvis and Priscilla Presley.- Model :...
, as Marie Currie - Hannah MarksHannah MarksHannah Gayle Marks is an American television and film actress.Hannah Marks was born in Santa Monica, California. She appeared in the 2006 feature film Accepted as Lizzie Gaines as well as guest starred in many television programs such as Ugly Betty and CSI: Miami...
as Tammy, a groupieGroupieA groupie is a person who seeks emotional and sexual intimacy with a musician or other celebrity. "Groupie" is derived from group in reference to a musical group, but the word is also used in a more general sense, especially in casual conversation.... - Keir O'DonnellKeir O'DonnellKeir O'Donnell is an Australian actor best known for his roles in the comedy films Wedding Crashers and Paul Blart: Mall Cop...
as Rodney BingenheimerRodney BingenheimerRodney Bingenheimer, born December 15, 1947, is a radio disc jockey on the long-running Los Angeles rock station KROQ who is notable for helping numerous iconic bands become successful in the American market. His contribution to the music business has been described as important... - Tatum O'NealTatum O'NealTatum Beatrice O'Neal is an American actress best known for her film work as a child actress in the 1970s. She is the youngest to win a competitive Academy Award, at the age of 10, which she won for her performance as Addie Loggins in Paper Moon opposite her father Ryan O'Neal...
as Marie Harmon, a singer and Cherie's mother - Brett CullenBrett CullenPeter Brett Cullen is an American actor who has appeared in numerous motion pictures and television programs. Early in 2007, he was cast as the role of an estranged father to one of the American football players, Tim Riggins , in the NBC drama series Friday Night Lights.Cullen was born in Houston,...
as Mr Currie, Cherie's father - Brendan Sexton IIIBrendan Sexton IIIBrendan Eugene Sexton III is an American actor.-Career:Born in Staten Island, New York, Sexton made his film debut in Todd Solondz's Welcome to the Dollhouse playing the troubled bully Brandon McCarthy, for which he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award...
as Derek - Robert RomanusRobert RomanusRobert Romanus , also billed as Bob Romanus, is an American actor and musician who has starred in film and television. He is best remembered for his role in the 1982 comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High as the ticket scalper Mike Damone, and as Natalie Green's boyfriend Snake on The Facts of Life...
as the guitar teacher
Release
Apparition acquired distribution rights to The Runaways in December 2009. It was slated to open nationwide March 19, 2010, in 1,400 theaters. The film's world premiere took place on January 24, 2010, at the Sundance Film FestivalSundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
. Jett performed live in Park City
Park City, Utah
Park City is a town in Summit and Wasatch counties in the U.S. state of Utah. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and from Salt Lake City's east edge of Sugar House along Interstate 80. The population was 7,558 at the 2010 census...
the evening before the premiere and premiere night. Its Hollywood premiere took place March 11 at the ArcLight Hollywood
ArcLight Hollywood
The ArcLight Hollywood is a 14-screen multiplex located at 6360 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California, in the United States of America. All 14 screens feature stadium seating, and carry a THX certification for optimal sound and picture presentation. The building is located adjacent to the...
. Its theatrical release in the United States began March 19.
Box office and home media
The Runaways opened in the United States on Friday, March 19, 2010, at 244 theaters. Its opening weekend gross was $805,115—placing it at #18 at the box office—averaging $3,300 per theater, and most of its audience that weekend were 25 or older. Apparition changed their marketing strategy and began to target "older arthouse" demographicsDemographics
Demographics are the most recent statistical characteristics of a population. These types of data are used widely in sociology , public policy, and marketing. Commonly examined demographics include gender, race, age, disabilities, mobility, home ownership, employment status, and even location...
April 9, by which time The Runaways had grossed approximately $2 million. It left theaters June 3 with a domestic gross of $3,573,653. Variety reported that the film's underperformance at the box office could have been due to underfunded marketing and a failure to find an audience with either an age demographic that would remember the band or with fans of Stewart for her performance in Twilight
Twilight (2008 film)
Twilight is a 2008 American romantic vampire film based on Stephenie Meyer's popular novel of the same name. Directed by Catherine Hardwicke, the film stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. It is the first film in The Twilight Saga film series...
(2008).
The Runaways was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and Blu-ray in the United States on July 20, 2010.
Critical reception
The Runaways received generally favorable reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 68% of 171 sampled critics gave the film positive reviews and that it got a rating average of 6.2 out of 10. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 65 based on 35 reviews. The performances of Stewart, Fanning and Shannon were picked out as some of the film's strongest elements. Mick LaSalleMick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle is an American Mick LaSalle is an [[United States|American]] Mick LaSalle is an [[United States|American]] [[film reviewer] and the author of two books on pre-[[Motion Picture Production Code|Hays Code]] Hollywood...
of the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
noted that the film "doesn't always tell the literal truth" about the band, but felt that "[m]ore crucially, it conveys precisely what it was like to be young in the mid-1970s [...] And in getting that one thing right—in capturing that strange combination of despair and frustrated energy—it gets everything right." Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
gave The Runaways 3 stars out of 4, praising the performances of Shannon, Stewart and Fanning, while writing that the film's visuals and music "[helped] cover an underwritten script and many questions about the characters" which he found slimly developed. Dennis Harvey of Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
gave the film a positive review, commenting that it "proves [to be a] conventionally enjoyable making-and-breaking-of-the-band saga" and goes on to compliment the cinematography and soundtrack. A. O. Scott
A. O. Scott
Anthony Oliver Scott, known as A. O. Scott , is an American journalist and critic. He is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with Manohla Dargis.-Background and education:...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
felt that Sigismondi "infuses crucial scenes with a rough, energetic spirit, and shows a willingness to accept the contradictions inherent in the material without prurience, moralism or too much sentimentality." Even if The Runaways "hits a few too many standard music biography beats" and "may be a little too tame in the end", he added, "at its best it is just wild enough." Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman is an American film critic for Entertainment Weekly, a position he has held since the magazine's launch in 1990. From 1981–89, he worked at the Boston Phoenix....
of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
gave the film a B− and wrote that Sigismondi's "sixth sense for how the Runaways were bad-angel icons first and a rock & roll band second" was the "most entertaining thing about" the film, which he described as a "highly watchable if mostly run-of-the-mill group biopic". Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
felt that the film, which she described as "a street-level snapshot" of the titular band's creation, should have featured Jett's story instead of staying "too narrowly focused" on that of Currie. David Edelstein of New York Magazine gave the film a less positive review, commenting that "since the music itself is secondary, there’s not a lot to this story," and adding "It’s Fanning’s movie: You can taste the ex–child actor’s relish for playing jailbait."
Time magazine praised the acting in the film, in particular the work of Dakota Fanning, stating that Fanning "turns in a performance of startling maturity", "seduces us utterly" and is "like a mini--Meryl Streep".
Soundtrack
Music from the Motion Picture The Runaways was released on March 23, 2010.The film also includes "Lady Grinning Soul
Lady Grinning Soul
"Lady Grinning Soul" is a ballad written by David Bowie, which is the final track on the album Aladdin Sane, released in 1973. The composer’s first meeting with American soul singer Claudia Lennear in 1972 is often cited as the inspiration for the song....
" by David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, "Fujiyama Mama" by Wanda Jackson
Wanda Jackson
Wanda Lavonne Jackson is an American singer, songwriter, pianist and guitarist who had success in the mid-1950s and 60s as one of the first popular female rockabilly singers and a pioneering rock and roll artist...
, "Do You Wanna Touch Me
Do You Wanna Touch Me
"Do You Wanna Touch Me", also referred to as "Do You Wanna Touch Me? " is a glam rock song performed by Gary Glitter. The song reached Number 2 in the UK Singles Chart in January 1973, his third successive UK hit. The song represented something of a departure from the "trademark" of the Glitter...
" by Gary Glitter
Gary Glitter
Gary Glitter is an English former glam rock singer-songwriter and musician.Glitter first came to prominence in the glam rock era of the early 1970s...
, "Gimme Danger" by Iggy & The Stooges, "Vincent" by Don McLean
Don McLean
Donald "Don" McLean is an American singer-songwriter. He is most famous for the 1971 album American Pie, containing the renowned songs "American Pie" and "Vincent".-Musical roots:...
, "I Love Rock 'n' Roll
I Love Rock 'n' Roll
"I Love Rock 'n Roll" is a rock song written in 1975 by Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker of Arrows, who recorded the first released version. The song was later made famous by the hit version recorded by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts in 1981....
", "Bad Reputation" and "I Want You" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. Kristen Stewart
Kristen Stewart
Kristen Jaymes Stewart is an American actress. She is best known for playing Bella Swan in The Twilight Saga. She has also starred in films including Panic Room , Zathura , In the Land of Women , The Messengers , Adventureland and The Runaways .- Early life :Stewart was born and raised in Los...
also covers the Runaways' "I Love Playin' With Fire" in the film. The film included 34 credited songs, leaving 20 out of the official soundtrack, and did not have an official composer.