One-Off Feature: Bad Reputation

Director: Kevin Kerslake; Cast: Joan Jett, Billie Joe Armstrong, Rodney Bingenheimer, Carianne Brinkman; Official Selection: Sundance Film Festival; R, 93 mins.

It’s true, Joan Jett became mega-famous from the number-one hit “I Love Rock n Roll”, but that’s only part of the story. That fame intensified with the music video’s endless play on MTV, world tours and many hits to follow like “I Hate Myself for Loving You”, but that staple of popularity can’t properly define a musician. Jett put her hard work in long before the fame, ripping it up onstage as the backbone of the hard-rock legends The Runaways, starting her record label out of the trunk of a car after being rejected by 23 labels, and influencing many musicians—both her cohort of punk rockers and generations of younger bands—with her no-bullshit style. Bad Reputation gives you a wild ride as Jett and her close friends tell you how it really was in the burgeoning ’70s punk scene and the rocky road to rock stardom decades on. Their interviews are laced with amazing archival footage. The theme is clear: Even though people tried to define Jett, she never compromised. She will kick your ass, and you’ll love her all the more for it. “Secures Jett’s reputation as a rock & roll bad-ass” —Rolling Stone