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The Dirt
After the unprecedented success of Bohemian Rhapsody, a barrage of rock and roll biopics are probably on their way to the big screen and the first of them is an overheated look at Motley Crue called The Dirt that shocks, repels, and on some levels, does manage to entertain. To be fair, it should be mentioned that this review comes from someone who knows nothing about Motley Crue except for the fact that Tommy Lee was once married to Heather Locklear.
This 2019 Netflix musical drama traces the humble beginnings of the group, starting with the troubled childhood of Frank Ferrana Jr, whose abusive childhood would lead him to channel in his anger in music and change his name to Nikki Sixx. Along with eternal child drummer Tommy Lee, aging guitar player Mick Mars, and arrogant sex machine Vince McNeil would become one of rock and roll's biggest influences as well as one of it's most destructive forces.
Based on a book by Tommy Lee, this in-your-face look at the legendary rock group covers some three decades in the lives of the legendary rockers but seems to concentrate more on the bad times than the good. Framed by an onscreen narration by the entire band that seems to have been written strictly for laughs, the story presented seems to be a direct contradiction of said narration, a lot of which is delivered directly to the camera as in I, Tonya, presenting a lot of scenes of destroying hotel rooms, drunken sex and drug escapades in nightclubs, vomiting on strippers, and even provides a glimpse at the drunk driving incident involving Vince Neil that resulted in someone's death and his conviction of vehicular manslaughter, which got him 30 days in jail.
The film attempts to provide the group with some redemption for the viewer after this incident as Nikki Sixx initiates an attempt of the group to get sober, which only leads to their eventual destruction, initiated by Neil, who according to this screenplay, believed that the ir ability to produce great music was predicated on their partying. Neil is also presented as a guy who couldn't keep his fly zipped, sexing up any female who glanced his way. This film consistently attempts to shock and repel the viewer and often succeeds. There is a scene set at a hotel swimming pool with the guys and Ozzy Osbourne that I won't go into detail about here, but it literally turned my stomach. Tommy's marriage to Heather Locklear is briefly touched on and according to this movie, the occasion was just another big destructive party.
Jeff Tremaine's direction is a little on the manic side and there are a couple of solid performances from Machine Gun Kelly as Tommy Lee and Douglas Booth as Nikki Sixx. Tony Cavalero made a terrific Ozzy Osbourne but this film just seems to be trying too hard and just made me want to re-watch Bohemian Rhapsody.
After the unprecedented success of Bohemian Rhapsody, a barrage of rock and roll biopics are probably on their way to the big screen and the first of them is an overheated look at Motley Crue called The Dirt that shocks, repels, and on some levels, does manage to entertain. To be fair, it should be mentioned that this review comes from someone who knows nothing about Motley Crue except for the fact that Tommy Lee was once married to Heather Locklear.
This 2019 Netflix musical drama traces the humble beginnings of the group, starting with the troubled childhood of Frank Ferrana Jr, whose abusive childhood would lead him to channel in his anger in music and change his name to Nikki Sixx. Along with eternal child drummer Tommy Lee, aging guitar player Mick Mars, and arrogant sex machine Vince McNeil would become one of rock and roll's biggest influences as well as one of it's most destructive forces.
Based on a book by Tommy Lee, this in-your-face look at the legendary rock group covers some three decades in the lives of the legendary rockers but seems to concentrate more on the bad times than the good. Framed by an onscreen narration by the entire band that seems to have been written strictly for laughs, the story presented seems to be a direct contradiction of said narration, a lot of which is delivered directly to the camera as in I, Tonya, presenting a lot of scenes of destroying hotel rooms, drunken sex and drug escapades in nightclubs, vomiting on strippers, and even provides a glimpse at the drunk driving incident involving Vince Neil that resulted in someone's death and his conviction of vehicular manslaughter, which got him 30 days in jail.
The film attempts to provide the group with some redemption for the viewer after this incident as Nikki Sixx initiates an attempt of the group to get sober, which only leads to their eventual destruction, initiated by Neil, who according to this screenplay, believed that the ir ability to produce great music was predicated on their partying. Neil is also presented as a guy who couldn't keep his fly zipped, sexing up any female who glanced his way. This film consistently attempts to shock and repel the viewer and often succeeds. There is a scene set at a hotel swimming pool with the guys and Ozzy Osbourne that I won't go into detail about here, but it literally turned my stomach. Tommy's marriage to Heather Locklear is briefly touched on and according to this movie, the occasion was just another big destructive party.
Jeff Tremaine's direction is a little on the manic side and there are a couple of solid performances from Machine Gun Kelly as Tommy Lee and Douglas Booth as Nikki Sixx. Tony Cavalero made a terrific Ozzy Osbourne but this film just seems to be trying too hard and just made me want to re-watch Bohemian Rhapsody.