★ 9 / 10
***One of the most entertaining music biopics ever
Wuchak
***One of the most entertaining music biopics ever made (but also nastiest)*** RELEASED IN 2019, "The Dirt" is a biography of Mötley Crüe from their inception…
***One of the most entertaining music biopics ever made (but also nastiest)***
RELEASED IN 2019, "The Dirt" is a biography of Mötley Crüe from their inception in the early 80s to the mid-90s. Along with GnR, the band was the cream of the crop of 80’s hair metal. They were notorious for their childish, debauched antics and the movie depicts this from the get-go with an off-putting bit o’ raunch at a party. There’s also an amusing pool sequence that gets pretty repellent with Ozzy pathetically trying to prove how “crazy” he was (I heard the curious story long ago so I was prepared for it).
If you can handle that, this is one of the best band biopics in cinema; and more so if you favor Crüe’s music. The movie has a sense of humor and includes a little parody; it’s fun, dynamic, stirring and sometimes vile, but also dramatic and even moving, especially in the last act. A plus is that most of the characters have a story arc wherein they learn from their misdeeds and mature.
The flick was based on drummer Tommy Lee’s autobiography “The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band,” as well as the biographies of other band members & Co. So, while there’s an over-the-top feel here and there, the events really happened with minor alterations for dramatic effect.
The best way to rate a biopic is to compare it to others, including fictional ones loosely based on real-life characters, like “Rock Star” (2001) and “The Rose” (1979). As decent as those two are, “The Dirt” is all-around more entertaining. It’s also superior to “Walk the Line” (2005), the slanderous “The Doors” (1991), the underrated “The Perfect Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll” (2009), "Eddie and the Cruisers” (1983) and "The Runaways" (2010). I’d put it on par with “Coal Miner’s Daughter” (1980), but it’s very different because the style of music and subculture is so radically different. Content-wise, it’s closest to “Rock Star,” "The Runaways" and “The Perfect Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” but funner than the brooding latter.
Douglas Booth is convincing as Nikki Sixx, the band leader/bassist/composer and so is Machine Gun Kelly as the hyperactive, but genial Tommy Lee. Iwan Rheon is also effective as the more mature and subdued guitarist Mick Mars. Daniel Webber unfortunately lacks the looks of singer Vince Neil, but is otherwise effective.
THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour, 47 minutes and was shot in Los Angeles and New Orleans.
GRADE: A
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the adventures of a gang of idiots
dragokin
The best thing about The Dirt is the performance of Colson Baker AKA Machine Gun Kelly as Tommy Lee. He is trying to put his talents to good use and I hope…
The best thing about The Dirt is the performance of Colson Baker AKA Machine Gun Kelly as Tommy Lee. He is trying to put his talents to good use and I hope we'll see more of him on screen.If you're a fan of Mötley Crüe, The Dirt is exactly what you want to see. But if you're, like myself, untouched by their output, you might as well perceive The Dirt as, to paraphrase a sentence from the beginning of the movie, the adventures of a gang of idiots.Mind you, they were all musically gifted and were successful in a line of work that is difficult and, more often than not, unrewarding. In fact, I must give the authors the credit for the honesty. Sex, drugs and Rock'n'roll is a hard road to tread. And a fraction of those who choose it end at the same level of success and fame as Mötley Crüe.
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★ 7 / 10
I loved this movie.
jonorato-63490
I've watched it twice already and I can see this will be a movie I can rewatch a bunch n still enjoy. Do I wish it was longer? Yes. Do I wish they included…
I've watched it twice already and I can see this will be a movie I can rewatch a bunch n still enjoy. Do I wish it was longer? Yes. Do I wish they included 'Wildside" on the soundtrack? Yes. Will I buy this on blue ray when released?? Absolutely!!! - if you've read the book it will of course make the movie better (as they left many parts of the book out for better or worse) but I watched with some friends who didn't read the book (n aren't Crüe fans to the extent that I am) and they loved it. People will likely nip pick it to shreds but it was so fun and dark and sad and heavy - a little music lite for me in that I wish they featured so many more of their songs but the movie was really great and I'm glad they did this movie with reverence as it could have so easily been campy and cheesy and it's wasn't at all to me - I LOVED IT!!
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4K please