The Runaways
Apparition | Release Date: March 19, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
26
Mixed:
10
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
A rich and surprisingly old-fashioned musical biopic, The Runaways has neither the bloat nor the blather of your average Hollywood treatment of stars on the rise. Read full review
83
Tampa Bay TimesSteve Persall
The Runaways isn't just about rock 'n' roll; it IS rock 'n' roll, as loud, sexy, sometimes sloppy and ultimately exhilarating as the music can be. Read full review
80
SalonStephanie Zacharek
The best rock 'n' roll movies are less about strict authenticity than about capturing a vibe. And The Runaways gets the vibe just right, from its opening shot. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The three leads provide convincing performances, with Dakota Fanning being the standout. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Its interest comes from Shannon's fierce and sadistic training scenes as Kim Fowley, and from the intrinsic qualities of the performances by Stewart and Fanning, who bring more to their characters than the script provides. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The strength and beauty of The Runaways are that it tells the truth. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
The Runaways captures the sleaze and innocence of the era and has some still-relevant things to say about the conflict between girl-rocker empowerment and exploitation. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
It's an artistic and authentic evocation of an era but a rather surface-skimming story of the '70s all-girl rock band fronted by Joan Jett and Cherie Currie. If anything, it just makes you want to know more about Jett's back story and Currie's subsequent life. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Much of The Runaways plays out in the key of dreary. But there's a flinty integrity in this movie's look at the rock grind, and Stewart and Fanning are intensely watchable. Read full review
75
Orlando SentinelRoger Moore
It is a well-acted and vivid re-creation of a dark, downbeat era when "girls don't play electric guitar," and you had to be someone pretty tough and pretty special to try it. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe Williams
Because the movie captures the period so well and argues so convincingly that the Runaways' very existence was revolutionary, it doesn't have to exaggerate the highs and lows to create a more salable story. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
In rock, it's about the attitude as much as the music. In some cases, more so. And the Runaways were all attitude. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
A soaring, sympathetic ode to the outlaws, subversives and insurgents who occupy the edges of popular culture, making them safe for everyone else's dreams. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
The vigor and pace is electric, and the movie features three showy performances by Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning and Michael Shannon. Read full review
70
VarietyDennis Harvey
A conventionally enjoyable making-and-breaking-of-the-band saga. Read full review
70
Village VoiceKarina Longworth
In The Runaways' first hour, there's a guttural pleasure to be had in riding waves of rock-movie cliché spiked with socio-sexual commentary. The movie is at its best when working through the contradictions of teen sex-for-sale, when it's both turn-on and creep-out. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill Goodykoontz
The Runaways broke new ground. And if "The Runaways" doesn't, it's still a movie worth watching - and listening to. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road) steals his every scene as the aphorism-spouting Fowley while Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning often fade into the 70s wallpaper as guitarist Joan Jett and front woman Cherie Currie. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
The movie may be a little too tame in the end, but at its best it is just wild enough. Read full review
70
SlateDana Stevens
The wispy insubstantiality of The Runaways can't be blamed on its cast--Fanning, Stewart, and Shannon are all good in their roles, even if their range is never tested. Ultimately, maybe it's OK that there's not much below the surface of this great-looking but shallow movie. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The most entertaining thing about The Runaways, a highly watchable if mostly run-of-the-mill group biopic, is that its writer-director, Floria Sigismondi, has a sixth sense for how the Runaways were bad-angel icons first and a rock & roll band second. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
The Runaways nails both the glammy, SoCal temper of the mid-Seventies and the metallurgic tempering of the first all-girl rock band in America. Read full review
63
New York PostKyle Smith
An entertaining but routine rock flick. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Despite Sigismondi's fresh eye, feminist perspective, and rapport with actors, The Runaways feels like a long-form music video, recycling every trope from the doomed-rocker handbook. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Say what you will about the Runaways – they never played it safe. The movie does. Read full review
63
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
For her part, Stewart has Jett down pat: her strut, her slouch, her sexiness. This is a performance that goes far beyond Jett's shag haircut. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineRay Greene
Far from a perfect movie, but there are moments when it comes about as close to catching the visceral kick of the pre-iPod rock experience as any film I've ever seen. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua Rothkopf
There's lots of volume in these tunes--the soundtrack is killer--and at least everyone gets their rocks off. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Fanning's Currie grabs the spotlight immediately, and never lets go. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
The problem with The Runaways is that they went with the wrong girl. Read full review
60
EmpireAngie Errigo
Cringe-making fun for survivors of the '70s. For the younger majority: a familiar rise and fall of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll enlivened by the gender reversal and performances. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
In patches it's agreeably lurid, but it's otherwise ho-hum. Read full review
50
ObserverSara Vilkomerson
It's when the music stops that we run into problems. For starters, there are so many questions left unanswered. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
They're now the first major all-girl punk band to inspire a bleary, excessive, and altogether mediocre big-screen biography. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
The Runaways ultimately feels too lethargic and conventional for the wild story it tells. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
A movie that tells -- or rather, circles -- the story of the band's formation and abortive career. Read full review
More From This Movie

65 Critic Reviews

7.9 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL