Bad Reputation

Bad Reputation

A great rock documentary is due for Joan Jett, and this one isn’t it.

Earlier this year I had the good fortune to see Jett perform in a small venue in Austin, and she still rocks hard, continuing to smash gender stereotypes in rock ‘n’ roll. Culture often tells us that rock is a boys club even today, but Jett’s career has turned that notion upside down and encouraged men and women alike to reimagine what’s possible in music.

And she’s still doing it. So clearly “Bad Reputation,” the new doc about her career not life as we hardly see any of that should work for me. What people don’t realize sometimes about hagiography is that it’s even less satisfying for the biggest fans of the subject. I want a rock doc with more insight on the struggles Jett endured, how The Runaways and The Blackhearts changed music, why so many people still love Joan. “Bad Reputation” ain’t that film.

Sure, Kevin Kerslake checks all the boxes as director. Jett herself clearly played a major role probably too major a role but I’ll get to that later as essentially narrating her life story. There are archival performances from throughout her career, and a notable number of “famous fans” of Jett like Iggy Pop, Debbie Harry and Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day make appearances. Clips from Jett’s youth are interspersed with snippets of all her hits now popularized on TikTok over the years to catch up the audience on where she is today.

Tick tick tick. Late in “Bad Reputation,” Kristen Stewart who plays Joan Jett in “The Runaways” comments on how Jett defies the expectation that a rock star should be a bit “messy” or unfocused, talks about her surprisingly no-nonsense determination. Perhaps Kerslake is trying to reflect that aspect of Jett’s personality in his structure and approach–don’t waste time hit every note as expected but it makes for deeply unsatisfying filmmaking.

“Bad Reputation,” unfortunately for viewers like myself who want interviews with depth rather than sound bites doesn’t deliver such documentaries instead offering hyper edited Behind The Music episodes which gloss over every significant chapter within minutes while failing miserably at showing real conflict/struggle/drama surrounding drinking failed albums after hits etc., all these brilliant artists here barely offer anything beyond “Joan Rocks.” Yeah? Okay but this 93 minute movie needs more than just that

About an hour in, “Bad Reputation” moves from Runaways/Blackhearts worship to detailing the last two decades of Jett’s life that people may not know. It interestingly draws the line between Jett and the Riot Grrrl movement, particularly in interviews with Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna, who Jett supported and worked with early in her career.

Later-career anecdotes such as when she recorded a song by The Gits after their lead singer was murdered or how she toured in support of the troops after 9/11 are way more interesting than what comes before them. There’s passion and insight here that makes that first hour of “Joan is Awesome” feel even more superficial.

Joan’s interview footage sounds the most scripted out of everything I’ve watched all year. I think there is truth to a lot of what she says, and good intentions behind it, but it has been so prepared and shaped around what she’s willing or able to say or reveal that it offers almost nothing. Often here she reveals more about herself in archival footage than in new clips. Maybe Joan Jett’s music said all she needed to say. “Bad Reputation” really only gets at its subject when doing what she loves.

Watch Bad Reputation For Free On Gomovies.