Formulaic but well done

Rating: 8/10 (26 October 2014)

Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning) is a rebellious teen winning her 10th grade talent contest as David Bowie. Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) is a tough bisexual teen sniffing glue and playing her guitar. She faces a lot of sexist attitudes. She approaches record producer Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon) outside a club to start an all-girl band. Kim introduces Joan to drummer Sandy West (Stella Maeve). Then Kim and Joan recruit Cherie into the band. Kim toughens the girls into an edgy rock band.
Dakota Fanning is trying to do more rougher roles. Kristen Stewart has a good handle on the tough young chick character. The girls do a good job. Then there is Michael Shannon. He is amazing in this. This is not necessarily a ground breaking music bio. In fact, it follows the try-and-true formula of all such movies. It just does it very well. Also it has some pretty good music.