So, never thought we’d live in a world where Motley Crue had a biopic on Netflix but here we are. The movie is called The Dirt and that’s a fairly accurate title. It’s based on a book the band co-wrote and they are producers of this flick… so I guess if anyone got the dirt on their lives, it’s them.
The film proposes to give you all the gory details, myths, and legends about their hedonism and debauchery in the 1980s. Want a movie positively soaked in Jack Daniels, heroin, and an eye-opening number of books? You got it. The film certainly isn’t shying away from the anarchist, booze-soaked debauchery it promises. It does eventually settle down from trying to shock us and gives us some rock ‘n roll business background, personal lives, romance (or something like it) and genuine tragedies.
The problem is that the flick isn’t long enough to devote enough time to any one of the members to really get invested in their lives. It tries though and occasionally succeeds. Vince Neil gets the the lion’s share of genuinely emotional scenes (even if the actor isn’t always up to the challenge). Mick Mars probably gets the least attention. He’s played by the actor who played Ramsay Bolton… though it took me a while to realize it (guess all that hair metal, fashion, and an American accent fooled me).
One weird criticism about the movie is that, even as debauched and gross as it often is, it feels like they are holding back the real dirt. Maybe there’s a filthier, more demented story to tell but it would have been unfilmable (I gather the book goes into much more detail). Plus there’s the fact the four members of the group are producers on the movie and full endorse it. Which, to be fair, is them admitting to a lot of things that on the far side of legal… and moral… and ethical.
So, yeah, this is a pretty good film that does kind of lack any real focus or meaning. It seems to exist to make you cringe or giggle at depictions of stories you may have heard about on VH1’s Behind the Music. In that sense, it achieves a goal. In any sense of suggesting Motley Crue is Important or Matters or has anything to say about life, the universe, and everything, it doesn’t. Not every movie has to though… but I did think “what’s the point of all this?” at a couple points.
Hey, if you’re a fan or want to see more boobs, cocaine, Jack Daniels, or heroin than an average mainstream movie normally provides, give it a watch.
Score: 81