It’s also fascinating to watch the ease (and credibility) with which Jett slid between punk and straight-up rock as few others have. Jett’s own candid recollections provide a superb backdrop, not to mention heaps of context, for everything unspooling on screen, especially her forays into the British punk scene at the height of the Sex Pistols. Two things give Bad Reputation additional spark: its wealth of often surprising celebrity interviews ( Iggy Pop, Deborah Harry, Kathleen Hanna and Fugazi's Ian MacKaye we were expecting, Miley Cyrus not so much), and its deep dive into the circus-like aspects of the business as conducted by onetime Runaways manager Kim Fowley - a yang counterpoint to Malcolm McLaren’s yin if there ever was one - and Laguna, without whom Joan Jett & the Blackhearts would almost certainly be less than they eventually became. Jett’s breakout victory in 1981 with the I Love Rock 'n Roll album and title track feels entirely earned, Jett’s tireless comportment in the face of endless and often aggressive sexism a dynamic rallying cry. That she and musical partner Kenny Laguna unsuccessfully shopped Jett’s solo debut to 23 American record labels before forming their own independent Blackheart Records is a stark reminder that the music business has always been dicey and often deaf. Though the Runaways period feels well-documented - notably by director Floria Sigismondi’s spot-on 2010 film starring Kristen Stewart as Jett and Dakota Fanning as lead singer Cherie Currie whose memoir Neon Angel inspired the story - Jett’s post-Runaways career provides the film’s most compelling arc.
Like the woman herself, Bad Reputation offers little of Jett’s behind-the-scenes personal life, keeping the spotlight tightly focused on her career first with trailblazing girl-group the Runaways (and they were girls Jett was just 17 when they launched in 1975) through to her more complex and lasting work with the Blackhearts.
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