Critics: Don’t Run to The Runaways

After generating buzz at Sundance, The Runaways finally hits theaters this weekend—but, according to most critics, it does not live up to the hype. Multiple reviewers complain that the movie exaggerates the impact the band had on the music industry. Entertainment Weekly gave the film, which stars Twilight actresses Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart, a B-, deeming it “a highly watchable if mostly run-of-the-mill group biopic." Variety was pleased with Fanning and Stewart’s performances as Cherie Currie and Joan Jett, respectively, and USA Today says the movie is “more arty than eye-opening.” The Hollywood Reporter adds that it is “not memorable in the sense one recalls it afterward only in flashes and impressions." The New York Times’ A.O. Scott, however, is the sole voice of positivity: “The movie may be a little too tame in the end,” he writes, “but at its best it is just wild enough.”