The Runaways

Empire“This funny-sad coming-of-age drama/musical biopic...” Writer-director Floria Sigismondi doesn’t offer a great deal of character study or revelatory dialogue. Indeed, the lead trio bring more to the film than they were given on the page...

The Observer“This in-your-face look at teenage life and the rock scene...” It's an unedifying story given a certain sheen by Floria Sigismondi, an experienced director of pop videos, whose first feature this is...

Total Film “Ultimately a familiar song that never quite gets the blood pumping...” A resonant nostalgia trip for those who remember and a slice of ’70s steez for everyone else, The Runaways is more of a throwaway single than a sustained concept album...

The Independent“It will not be mistaken for one of the great rock biopics...” Floria Sigismondi's film is somewhat lopsided, sketching in Currie's story of trailer-park hardscrabble with an alcoholic dad and absent mum (the script is based on her memoir, Neon Angel), but more or less ignoring the other Runaways...

Guardian“This engaging, small-scale film...” There are some cliches (drugs on tour, montage of the band climbing the charts) and perhaps Fanning looks a little fragile, but the film interestingly and sympathetically shows the human cost to Jett and Currie...

Channel4 Film“One of the best all-female band movies ever made...” Ultimately, the Runaways gets a lot right. It focuses on the girls themselves and not on their love interests, the performances are excellent and the live performances feel suitably live, not polished and dubbed...

The Telegraph“A raucous treat...” Fanning captures Currie’s surly “Cherry Bomb” style effectively, particularly when dolled up in the notorious white basque that Currie is remembered for; Stewart is even better as the furiously smouldering Jett...

Time Out film“It’s more giggly goofy than coke-in-the-bathroom naughty...” So you don’t blink an eye when the prefab wheels run off the rails—there’s very little pathos here for something presumably informed by Currie’s 1989 memoir....

Little White Lies“A film that attempts to bottle the spirit of teenage rebellion...” The question is whether The Runaways interrogates Kim Fowley’s cynicism or echoes it. And yet the film remains both a vivid portrait of an era and a testament to an unheralded rock legend...

Variety“A conventionally enjoyable making-and-breaking-of-the-band saga...” Does a good job setting the scene without laying on too much retro kitsch. Though sometimes her usual neurotic tics distract, "Twilight's" Stewart is a good fit for the tough but good-natured Jett, who carried on as frontwoman after Currie left...