2019 Films: #6. The Dirt

A Netflix viewing on March 31st in Chicago. 

This biopic based on the book The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band written by the band members and Neil Strauss was directed by Jeff Tremaine with screenwriting credits to Amanda Adelson and Rich Wilkes. The film starts off in 1973 as we see a young Frank Feranna having issues with his family which would eventually lead him to leave Seattle in 1978 and become Nikki Sixx in 1980. 

From there Nikki is in a band called London and that leads him to bringing together the line-up that would become Mötley Crüe. From there we get a tale of how the band is put together(in classic film cliche where the band members just show up when needed) and go off on a life of debauchery. Tremaine gives us the highs and lows of the band through the early 90's when Vince leaves the band after the death of his daughter and their subsequent reunion. We get all of the highlights of their career; Nikki overdosing on heroin, declared dead then coming back to life after a paramedic gives him 2 shots of adrenaline, Tommy marrying Heather Locklear, Vince's drunk driving accident that leads to the death of Hanoi Rocks drummer Razzle (the true devastation caused by the accident is heavily glossed over) and Mick's ankylosing spondylitis.

The book is based off of what the and members relayed to writer Neil Strauss and to say the film made a few changes is a given. The film is a cleaned up version of the book that's a little on the dull side. Sure it got most stuff correct but if the reality of the situation is interesting, why change it? I understand glossing over things like Razzle's death or Tommy's abusive behavior towards women but some things didn't need to be changed. I read the book and it's a lot better than the film. 

The film is put together nicely and the actors playing the band:

• Douglas Booth as Nikki Sixx
• Colson Baker or Machine Gun Kelly as Tommy Lee
• Daniel Webber as Vince Neil
• Ramsay Bolton as Mick Mars

They were ok at best as a whole. I never got the sense that Booth gave me the fire within Sixx to make it as a rockstar. Baker/Kelly looked a lot like Tommy Lee. Webber channeled Vince here and there so he was adequate. Ramsay did a nice job as Mick Mars but he never really seemed to be asked to do too much. It seemed like the actors playing the band were just reliving the events while looking like the band and not really acting at times. 

As with most musical biopics, all that the band needs to succeed is attitude. Mötley Crüe had attitude to spare. No one likes seeing the real process of how a band writes the songs or how things get put together in the studio. It's just easier to do a montage of that stuff over a song and it's done. The film received a 39% Rotten Tomatoes rating and deservedly so. It wasn't that good and did not live up to the book. Plus it was probably about 10 years too late. Apparently the attempt to bring the book to film started back in 2006. Reading the book will take longer than watching the film, but it's worth it.