Revisiting the Runaways

There's so much to like about Floria Sigismondi's movie The Runaways, like the acting by Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning and Michael Shannon, the dead-on costume design and of course the music. But considering that it comes from a director known for dark and creepy videos, there's something strangely toothless about it. We do see some glazed eyes and a collapse in a telephone booth, but there's really very little of the dark side of their story—and it peters out at the end without going into the reasons why they broke up, which might have been exhaustion as much as the metal vs. punk argument. Not that everything has to be about the music industry's ugly underbelly, but I was left with the feeling that there's a whole chunk of the story that's not being told. Maybe it's because Joan Jett was the executive producer and it was based on Cherie Currie's memoir, and they're being self-protective, but still, you'd think they'd have a few things they'd like to get off their chests. Interesting bit of trivia: Riley Keough, granddaughter of Elvis, plays Currie's twin, Marie.
The Runaways never got their due as writers and musicians in their heyday; they were laughed at and seen as nothing but jailbait lust objects. How frustrating that must have been for them is left out of the movie, which is disappointing.