Author: Kristin

What’s up, movie lovers?

It’s been a while since my brothers and I made plans to catch a movie together, but the release of Motley Crue & Netflix’s THE DIRT seemed like an appropriate time to change that! Let me give you just a little bit of backstory before I get into my review of the movie.

My brothers and I are all 4 years apart and I’m the youngest of three. My oldest brother has been the biggest Motley Crue fan since his teenage years, but we weren’t far behind. In 2008 I’d been laid off from my job, I had just found out that my best friend slept with the guy I was with & I was just an overall hot mess. My brother had never seen Motley live before, but he gave me his ticket to Crue Fest without a second thought. It was only natural that I repay his generosity by buying the three of us tickets to see them live TWICE after that, including seeing their Farewell Tour with our niece. The three of us had also read the book years ago, so we pretty much knew what to expect from the movie. (Side note: I’ve always had a little crush on Nikki, so there you have it.)

With that being said, the three of us made plans for a family movie night to catch THE DIRT on Netflix and we were all super stoked about it! Especially considering the fact that Motley served as producers and we all know that if something was fabricated or came across badly, Nikki would make those changes prior to the release lol.

Here’s the official synopsis of the movie:

In this unflinching biopic based on Motley Crue’s best-selling book, four LA misfits navigate the monster highs and savage lows of music superstardom.

First, I want to talk about the casting for the movie. Colson Baker (aka Machine Gun Kelly) as Tommy Lee was absolutely PERFECT. It actually felt like we were watching Tommy act out his past. Everything from their build to their mannerisms were spot-on, so kudos to Colson for his performance.

The other guys (Douglas Booth as Nikki Sixx, Iwan Rheon as Mick Mars and Daniel Webber as Vince Neil) were great as well. Admittedly, I had a little bit of a harder time believing Daniel Webber to be Vince, but he definitely had Vince’s on-stage mannerisms down. That might be partly because I’ve seen interviews with the others guys talking about their preparation and everything, but Daniel Webber hasn’t really done any press. My opinion of him in this movie has nothing to do with his acting skills though because he was great in The Punisher! It’s just difficult to portray someone so well known. Either way, you can tell that the guys all did their research on the OG’s to get this right.

I had looked up critic reviews before watching the movie myself and what I saw was awful. After watching it though, I have to disagree with their reviews. There were some things about the movie that I wasn’t particularly a fan of, but it wasn’t the debauchery that the band caused and lived through. That’s part of their story and all of what makes them Motley Crue. What I wasn’t a fan of were some of the transitions throughout the movie. I know it’s hard to take a 431-page book and almost 40 years together and make it into a 2 hour movie. But, at one point, they went from playing little club shows to playing arenas with no in between on how they got there. There was also the part where it seemed like a snarky comment from Nikki resulted in their owning their own music, but I’m sure it was much more detailed than that. It was little transitional things like that that seemed off to me. I guess it boils down to just wanting to see more. Maybe it could’ve been like a two-part movie, or like a mini-series or something.

That doesn’t take away from the quality of the movie though. THE DIRT transports you back to the 80s and definitely had great production value. What critics failed to take away from the movie is that this movie  is about a band that was determined to play music their way and overcame some horrible situations over the course of their years together. Their story of success and debauchery is horrific and legendary at the same time, but these are 4 guys who went through the craziest of times and lived to tell the tale. Fans have loved seeing important moments from the band’s lives being played out on-screen, so that’s what matters most. The bottom line is that critics have always criticized Motley, but look at them now! They own their music, they have a book, a film adaptation of that book, and their music is back at the top of the charts. Seems like they’re doing alright for themselves! Plus, they still have loyal fans that are loving every second of their success.

If you’re a fan of the band, the guys as individuals, the 80s or just music and movies in general, I would recommend checking this out when you can. It’s gritty, it has moments that make you laugh and it makes you proud, as a fan, to watch the craziness that tried to take Motley away but failed! Lucky for us!