Film

The Runaways

Name: The Runaways
Genre: Drama, Music
Released: 2010
Cast: Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Michael Shannon, Stella Maeve, Scout Taylor-Compton

The Runaways chronicles the rise and combustion of 1970s all-female rock band The Runaways, centred on the volatile friendship between Joan Jett and Cherie Currie. It's a film about teenage rebellion, musical ambition, and the price of fame when you're still learning who you are. Taut, atmospheric, and unsparing about the predatory machinery around young talent.

TMDb rating

3.2

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love rock biopics that chase the grit and grime of a scene, and you don't mind a hungry, messy story about teenagers being used by the people who claim to be saving them.

Skip it if you want a tidy, uplifting music story; this one is raw, leans hard on its performances, and can feel bleak for long stretches.

What it asks of you: Runs about under two hours and moves in restless bursts, asking you to stay with its volatile moods and to sit through the sour stretches as well as the loud ones.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Sid and Nancy1986

Gritty punk-era romance about two doomed figures at the centre of musical chaos. Like The Runaways, it captures the seductive danger of that world and the cost of burning bright too fast.

But Deliberately bleak and sometimes difficult to watch. The relationship at its core is toxic in ways that can feel relentless.

Almost Famous2000

Partly a love letter to 1970s rock, partly a sharp-eyed look at how the industry consumes young people. It shares The Runaways' interest in mentorship, manipulation, and the gap between myth and reality.

But Longer and more sprawling than you might expect. Some may find its tone shifts between comedy and earnestness unsettling.

The Diary of a Teenage Girl2015

Another film about teenage female sexuality, ambition, and the adults who prey on it. Set in the 1970s, similarly unflinching about power imbalances and desire without moralising.

But Sexually explicit in ways that serve the story but may feel uncomfortable. Deliberately uses a teen's voice—some find the style precious.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Runaways

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Moxie2021

Both are about teenage girls discovering power through refusal and solidarity. Moxie is what The Runaways might look like if it trusted comedy as a weapon.

Animated, funny, contemporary take on teenage girls refusing to accept the system. Shares The Runaways' fury and refusal to accept limits, but uses animation and humour as its language—worlds away in register but identical in spirit.

But Tonal whiplash: it's bright and cartoonish where The Runaways is dark. If you want realism, the animation will feel like distance.

24 Hour Party People2002

Chaotic, funny account of a music impresario building a scene. Like The Runaways, it explores the mercurial relationship between a visionary operator and the talent he uses.

But Deliberately anarchic storytelling that some find more exhausting than exhilarating. Heavily Manchester-focused; less accessible if you don't know the scene.

Dreamgirls2006

Another film about female musicians navigating a ruthless industry. The scale is bigger, but the core conflict—ambition versus exploitation—mirrors The Runaways' tensions.

But Glossier and more dramatically heightened. If you want grit over spectacle, this swings in the opposite direction.

The Beguiled2017

Sofia Coppola's meditation on power, desire, and how women navigate spaces designed to constrain them. The register is entirely different but the thematic DNA—young women, predatory authority—is there.

But Slow, measured, intensely interior. If you want rock momentum, this is almost the opposite in pace and mood.

Ladies in Black2018

Light but genuinely shrewd about how women create space for themselves in hostile environments. Different tone entirely, but the impulse—female solidarity as rebellion—echoes The Runaways.

But Much gentler, almost comedic. Tonally jarring if you're looking for The Runaways' darker edge.

Foxes1980

1980s teen film about girls navigating Los Angeles, sexuality, and friendship. Period-adjacent and interested in similar questions about youth, freedom, and the adults who fail them.

But Dated in ways that feel slow now. Ultimately less interested in the darkness that The Runaways refuses to look away from.

The Return of the Living Dead1985

Both films are obsessed with capturing a specific subcultural moment and the attitude that comes with it. Where The Runaways is biographical, this is genre fiction built from the same aesthetic bones.

Punk-soaked horror comedy from the same era The Runaways inhabited. Full of that 1980s punk aesthetic and attitude—anarchic, funny, alive with its own energy and iconography.

But B-movie horror with gore and absurdist humour. If you want realism and drama, this is willfully artificial and comic in ways The Runaways never is.

Dancer in the Dark2000

Both treat music as existential: not entertainment or career, but survival. The Runaways asks what happens when you want music and power; this asks what happens when music is all you have.

Lars von Trier's brutal, beautiful film about a woman who escapes her suffering through music and fantasy. Radically different in every way but shares The Runaways' interest in how music saves and how the world punishes women who refuse to break.

But Profoundly depressing. Ends badly. Not cathartic—it's designed to devastate. Musical numbers mixed with realism in ways that can feel jarring.