Bad Reputation

Joan Jett is very talented, and this documentary also shows how brave, bold, and original she was early in her career. Those risks that she took are the reason we want to watch a documentary about her today. Great rock documentary!

I'm a huge Joan Jett fan. I love 80's rock and I think that some of her songs that weren't radio hits are underrated and as good as anything that was out on the radio in the 1980's. Joan was and is the ultimate cool feminist, doing her thing and not worrying about her "reputation" so to speak. Lots of great archival, concert, and interview footage in this. Fans of Joan Jett, fans of music, or fans of the 80's will love this.

Joan Jett was a trailblazer for women and outsiders in rock n roll and Bad Reputation does a decent job condensing this into a 90 minute raw and intense dive into the highest highs and lowest lows of Joan Jett's illustrious career. While the storytelling is a bit disjointed, it is absolutely a worthwhile watch. I would recommend to any music aficionado.

I knew that Joan Jett was one of the early defining forces of women in rock and roll but I don't think I realized how driven she is, what a single-minded focus she's had for music and feminism since she was thirteen years old. Joan Jett is a real musician but she's also an astute business woman who is essentially married to her job, and she's had her hands in numerous projects throughout the years for other bands including The Germs and Bikini Kill.

She wasn't just a beautiful and sexy young performer with a hard edge that wasn't really seen prior to the Runaways and the Blackhearts, she's been a voice for queer people and she's mentored other women, gay men and trans people in a subtle, matter-of-fact way since she disappeared out of the top ten music charts. Joan has been behind the scenes, in small venues, on tour with rookie bands and generally being the guardian angel of younger performers, while continuing to make music and rock as hard as ever.

Six stars is because I will like anything that even remotely involves Joan Jett. Having said that, there is little substance to this documentary, and testimonials from the likes of Miley Cyrus and the Green Day punk pretender seem like filler to attempt to be relevant with younger fans, and already seem dated. The virtue signaling in the last half hour or so was boring. There is so much more to Joan Jett, and hopefully there will be a great Joan Jett documentary out there somewhere, but this ain't it...