SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

A satisfying documentary about the all-girl rock group, The Runaways, made by former Runaway Vicki Blue. Where the recent movie THE RUNAWAYS (2010) felt like something of a white-wash of the story, this is the more informative work in comparison and is certainly recommended viewing for fans. Much of the dirty details are presented here, and we have former band members Cherie Currie, Sandy West, Lita Ford, and Jackie Fox all separately interviewed. So is former manager Kim Fowley. It's unfortunate that Joan Jett declined to participate, but strangely the film still works as a treasure trove of information even without her input. Due to rights issues we only get to see The Runaways performing two cover songs, and most of the soundtrack is courtesy of Lita Ford's solo music and Suzi Quatro tunes. But it's no matter, as the real meat of the production is in the juicy stories the girls relate to us. There are short snippets of some late Runaways footage which is not usually seen that leaves you aching to see more. Filmed in 2004, the parting thoughts are quite unsettling in retrospect when we witness drummer Sandy West pouring out her guts about her fondness for her old band and the regret she feels that they never reunited; tragically, West contracted lung cancer in 2005 and died in 2006. *** out of ****

The greatest strength of this very good-but-flawed documentary is honesty. Four of the five members of the most famous version of the group (excluding Joan Jett) provide extensive on-camera interviews, as does replacement bassist Vicki Blue (also the director), and they are mostly no holds barred. Instigator/original manager Kim Fowley also appears for guarded but unvarnished commentary. The original Runaways are all interviewed separately, and each provides her reminiscences. It is quite clear from the interviews that all the the original members look back at both the other members and the overall experience with a mixture of ambivalence, bitterness, and regret. Taken as a whole, their reminiscences provide a Roshoman-like perspective from which a net truth can be pieced. This is as close to that truth as we have gotten, and much closer than we get in the more recent bigger budget Runaways movie.To anyone interested in the Runaways story, or interested in the sordid machinations behind the Svengali fueled star-making machinery of the music business, this will be engrossing and will be essential viewing.That said, this documentary falls a bit short of great, due in varying degrees to a paucity of archival material, Joan Jett's failure to participate, and a somewhat too narrow, too inside approach to the story.OK, let's take those three points one at a time: 1) Limitations on the archival source material. Joan Jett declined to participate. As a result, vintage Runaways songs co-written by Jett were not available either for the soundtrack, or for video. Therefore, for example, footage of the Runaways performing is limited to two cover songs. The soundtrack is populated mostly by Lita Ford (solo) and Suzi Quatro songs. Perhaps more significant is the absence of vintage footage of the Runaways at press conferences, in TV interviews, etc. The contrast between the middle aged women the Runaways have become and these women as teenagers would have added tremendously to the film.2) Joan Jett's lack of participation. As noted, this resulted in the lack of vintage performance materials. But it also means we are not treated to Jett's perspective on the days of the Runaways. Surprisingly, this is a relatively modest loss. The interviews with the other former members are (seemingly) honest enough that they paint a pretty complete picture. One doesn't actually sense that her lack of interview participation leaves as large a hole as might be expected.3) A too narrow, too inside approach. The film takes as almost a given that the viewer is invested in the Runaways as cultural icons, and that there is little need to investigate their place in the development of pop music. While that's OK for die hards, it unnecessarily limits the appeal of this film. Where is the essential commentary contemporaries of The Runaways--from artists with whom they toured or co-mingled, such as The Ramones, Cheap Trick, Blondie, etc? Where is the back story on the girls, which might explain how 14 year old girls were hanging out at nightclubs by themselves, available to be exploited? The meat of this movie would always be the interviews with the women themselves, of course, but framing is critical to make something more universal.Despite these limitations, if you have an interest in The Runaways, the film still packs a punch.Compared to the slick, bigger budget Runaways docudrama (which was produced with Joan Jett's participation, and which reflects a mostly Jett-centric view, and an almost entirely Jett Currie focus), this is most certainly the deeper film.That said, the sad thing is that this documentary contains the outline of a GREAT docudrama: Young, naive girls with doe-eyed dreams taken in by a predatory Svengali, used, abused and discarded, with the most fulfilling part of the story how they ultimately dealt with the collapse of those early promises. There's plenty of sex, drugs, and rock and roll to spice it all up, of course. But I think that's the far less interesting story. Too bad that's the story that, for the most part, the big budget Runaways film chose to feature. Contrasting how the different members of the group dealt with the collapse of the Runaways offers a fantastic mix of success, failure, reinvention, the triumph of tenacity, and tragedy of being unable to reconcile childhood dreams with adult realities, specifically: Jackie Fox, the smartest one (and the one who would always have the most options available to her), drops out of the group first, goes off the grid, finds herself, goes back to college, Harvard law, and becomes a successful attorney.Vicki Blue, replacement bassist, leaves and becomes a successful video auteur.Joan Jett and Lita Ford: Prospects outside the music world might have been minimal, but they were driven and lucky, and ultimately found legitimate success in music on their own terms.Cheri Currie: Directionless but benign girl has her innocence and childhood evaporate as she becomes the sexed up jail-bait singer for The Runaways. She buys into the image and lifestyle, but finally quits in disgust, eventually finding a certain peace in a modest (figuratively) just outside of Hollywood existence.Sandy West: Fox had the brains, Blue the artistic and personal perspective, Jett and Ford had the musical talent and drive and Currie was scrappy enough to find her way. West just wanted to play drums. When that went south, her life trajectory was one of deepening decent into darkness: drug dealing, jail, etc. Her interview for this film reveals that nearly a quarter of century later, she still wondered "what happened?" and was waiting for that Runaways reunion that would never come. (West died a couple of years after this film was completed).If you've seen The Runaways movie, and you're interested in further back story, this documentary is a must. The Runaways is adequate entertainment. But there's a lot more heart in this film.

Talking about 'Edgeplay', it's a two-edged sword! I'd like to start with what I disliked: 1) the camera work. Can't the guy hold still for a minute? Shaking the camera up and down and sideways maybe nice for 5 minutes of MTV interviews, but using that style for a 110 minutes documentary is nerve-wracking. 2) A documentary about a band without playing one song of their own material? Must be a first time. Instead, we get stuff from Suzi Quatro and Lita Ford's solo albums in the background. 3) Naturally, the absence of Joan Jett is a big problem. She wants to make her own Runaways picture in 2009, maybe after that we'll get a more complete view of the story.I'm glad I took the time to watch 'Edgeplay', nevertheless. Especially Cherie has many interesting things to say (and yes, she looks better now than back then). I liked that they interviewed the mothers of Cherie and Sandy as well - understandably, they must have been afraid of what was going on with their daughters far away from home, and nobody every talks about things like that because it's not 'cool' or some stupid reason like that. The picture 'Edgeplay' paints of Lita Ford doesn't omit the dark sides, apparently she is not famous for her patience and self-control. Watching Sandy (the last opportunity before her untimely demise) is touching. Alright, so 'Edgeplay' is interesting for fans to know more about the unique band, but it leaves many viewers unsatisfied, I guess.

I don't even know where to start. I've watched Edgeplay three times in the few days since I got it, and still feel as if I am seeing new, dusty corners in a room I grew-up in.If you are looking for another typical, VH-1 styled look at the fun and excesses of a dysfunctional rock band, this complex film may disappoint you. Edgeplay is not a film intended to excite, gawk, or fawn over it's subjects, and I say subjects rather than "subject" intentionally, as it's a film about people, not about the rock 'n roll lifestyle. There is no whimsy for the joyful free-sex and drugs of the 70's, or any fan-boy enthusiasm for The Runaways as a band.What there is, is an insightful and compassionate look at a tragic and yet stoic group of young women, who made history, without ever receiving any praise, who made great music without ever selling many records, and who paid dearly in many ways for their now legendary status, with a good part of their childhoods.Edgeplay is a documentary about the all-girl hard-rock band The Runaways, who so much like their tour-mates The Ramones, set the next two decades on fire, without getting any of the credit or rewards.Victory Tischler-Blue, the director, writer and conscience of Edgeplay, endured a 6-year trial-by-fire getting this film made and released,(and is a story as compelling as any in her movie), and I think much of the raw honesty and poignancy in this film is in some ways a direct result of that struggle.There is an almost Dickensian cast of characters: A young, Joan Jett-Talented and driven, yet shy and unsure of herself, Cherie Currie-A striking blonde, who never expected to be a singer, and yet, much like Lana Turner sitting at a soda fountain, was chosen to be one, Kim Fowley-A slimy Svengali who unashamedly preyed on very, young girls to make himself rich, and makes no apology, Sandy West-A tomboyish, young drummer who simply loved playing her drums, and wanted no more than to spend her life doing it, Jackie Fox-A doe-eyed bassist who found out earlier than the others that stardom could be an empty trophy cup, Lita Ford-Fiesty, tough, and driven, and Vicky Blue-The bassist who walked into this dysfunctional family in the midst of meltdown, and yet stayed on the outside enough, and more importantly, grew-up enough to make this incredible film.I think Miss Blue, ex-band member and director of Edgeplay, knew something that Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone With The Wind knew. Mrs. Mitchell once said about the theme of her novel, " I often wondered why some people could rise above great adversity, while others, just as brave and smart, go under. All I know is that my daddy called that quality "gumption". I wanted to write about people that had gumption, and those who didn't". Well whether intentional or not (though I expect it was), that is exactly what Miss Tischler-blue has done here.As most will know, Lita Ford and Joan Jett managed to escape the musical ghetto that was The Runaways, to find great success in the music business. The original bassist is now a successful attorney. Cheri Currie, although never achieving the same level of success, managed to find work in Hollywood for many years, and has continued with a low-profile music and art career. Sandy West, however was plagued with misfortune after her band dissolved, falling into desperately hard times, both financially, and otherwise, and much of this is explored unflinchingly in Edgeplay.This film works on so many levels that I sometimes am awed by it. When you watch it the first time, you see and hear the story of a rock band. When you watch it a second time however, you begin to become absorbed by the enormous differences in these women. All but one of the members, now in middle-age and 25 years away from The Runaways, still carry deep emotional scars from their experiences, that seem to transcend anything that has happened to them since. All but one of them breaks down on camera in a way that's agonizing to watch. Is it really possible to carry resentment from teen-aged slights and squabbles into middle age? Once the women start talking to Miss Blue's camera, you find out that you can indeed.The only one who does not seem affected by her experiences so long ago is Lita Ford, who I found, quite unexpectedly, the most fascinating of all. After 4 decades or so of life, I like to think I know false bravado when I see it, and yet in Lita I saw none. It's amazing to watch her face as she walks back over the same old paths as the others while recounting her experiences, and yet, to her, it was almost like describing a movie she had seen, and enjoyed, but could only partially remember; not because it wasn't exciting, but because, well....it was only a movie. Lita ends-up being Edgeplay's Scarlett O'Hara. The one who had gumption.Of course Joan Jett became a star as well, but we'll never know her thoughts and feelings on things, as she declined to participate in the film. As I understand it, she was violently opposed to the film, it apparently not focusing enough on her, and did everything in her power to crush the film before it could be released. This is utterly mystifying, as her treatment in the film is essentially positive.Edgeplay is, in many ways, the "Clockwork Orange" of rock documentaries. From the dark, sardonic tales of excess and loss-of-innocence, to the startlingly effective and moody camera-work, (which usually annoys me, but here served a real dramatic purpose for a change), this is a film that anyone can get something out of, whether you're a Runaways fan or not.