Runaway Review

The Runaways, starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning was a dark adventure through a past world of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, also known as the mid seventies.. Fanning plays Cherie Currie, a cookie cutter daughter turned rebel without a cause after meeting Joan Jett (Stewart), a badass wannabe rock star trying to make it big. In this film by Floria Sigismondi we see a truly uncensored world that had been stuck in the past, until brought to life again on the silver screen.
What was not as exciting as our glimpse back into grungy hotel rooms and teen angst at its finest, was the acting. Although Stewart surprising played a believable Joan Jett, Fanning fell short as a troubled youth. With lack of emotion and even facial expression in the film, we are forced to think maybe she hit her peak back when she was twelve. Fanning’s performance, although unlike any character she has played before, fell short on the acting scale, and brought back memories of her in fluffy meaningless film such as The Cat in the Hat and Uptown Girls. She is coded too innocent to play Cherie Currie and the audience is forced to try and cope with this miss-cast role.
Stewart on the other hand, has her role of Joan Jett to a T. She embarks on a journey of drugs, sex, and a plunge into adulthood, all before she is seventeen. She plays a believable part in the Runaways, adding something to the movie to shadow out Fanning’s role. This movie really made Stewart stand out as more than just a teeny-bopper vampire-lover, and could be the push she needed to break out into something no one is prepared for.