Leo Gregory's performance as Jones fails to capture his rebel charisma, and the film, like its subject, winds up all wet, floating without direction, and lifeless.
Stoned (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:17
Fresh:1
Rotten:16
Average Rating:3.7/10
Theatrical Release:Mar 24, 2006 Limited
Synopsis: Director/Producer Stephen Woolley's STONED is a dramatic attempt--researched for 10 years--to accurately portray the controversial events surrounding the death of Rolling Stones founding member and... Director/Producer Stephen Woolley's STONED is a dramatic attempt--researched for 10 years--to accurately portray the controversial events surrounding the death of Rolling Stones founding member and guitarist Brian Jones at age 27, on July 2nd, 1969. To create his work, Woolley synthesized the written memoirs and testimonials of the witnesses who were there. Beginning a few months before Jones's death, the film focuses on a relationship he forged with Frank Thorogood (Paddy Constantine), a builder hired to fix up the rock star's home. Alone--save for his girlfriend Anna--and ostracized from his band-mates due to drug problems and legal tangles, Jones draws Thorogood in as a part-time friend and part-time assistant. When Jones is summarily fired from the band--only weeks before his demise--Thorogood is also let go, and becomes jealous and enraged. Deftly placed flashbacks throughout the film catalog Jones's ascent and--more gratuitously--his drug-filled self-destructive descent. Coupling these with the volatile relationship with Thorogood, the film discreetly shows the complex causes of Jones's untimely death. To capture the spirit of the times, Woolley fills his soundtrack with 1960s nuggets, including excellent covers of Stones material by modern British acts like A Band of Bees and Little Barrie. He also shoots the flashbacks and recreated concert footage with a hand-held 16mm camera, achieving a real-life documentary feel. In this film, Brian Jones and his unfortunate end (strangely ruled "death by misadventure" at the time) are cast further into the mythical and legendary status they have achieved--and deserved. [More]
Starring: Leo Gregory, Paddy Considine, Monet Mazur, Luke De Woolfson
Starring: Leo Gregory, Paddy Considine, Monet Mazur, Luke De Woolfson, James D. White
Director: Stephen Woolley
Director: Stephen Woolley
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Reviews for Stoned
A flat riff on Jones's short life. You'll get the highlights but no sense of what made him special -- or what really haunted him.
Played with such an utter lack of charisma by Leo Gregory, Jones comes across as a rocker so drug- and ego-addled he doesn't have enough sense to lie down.
With its low budget, unadventurous script and notable lack of any Stones recordings it has the look and feel of a TV movie.
The good news here is that Woolley and his writers have taken the mystery surrounding Jones' tragic 1969 death as their main interest, and have adopted as fact the long-cherished rumor that the blond rocker's drowning was a case of murder.
Most of the movie is a tired sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll cliché, and many of the performances are so bad as to be laughable.
It's fun, for a while, to hang out with the temperamental rock star. But in the end, we can't wait to get away from the man.
The film fails to establish Jones' significance to the band or why his death should be seen as anything other than just another rock 'n' roll casualty.
Stoned, Stephen Woolley's convoluted docudrama examining the final weeks in the life of the guitarist Brian Jones ... stalls in its own laborious accumulation of detail.
Mines the story of Rolling Stones co-founder Brian Jones for a note-perfect pastiche of Swingin' '60s style, but is less satisfying in other departments.
In the end, a Stones (or a Jones) movie with no Stones songs is itself a bit like death by misadventure.
It never truly reveals who Brian Jones was before he fell apart. His indulgence, and his demise, play out in a void.
The herky-jerky editing is meant to indicate tumultuous excitement, switching back and forth in time, but the effect is grating and frustratingly unilluminating.
The film dishes oodles of sex and drugs but skimps on the rock 'n' roll.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| 68% 68% | Funny People |
| 95% 95% | Star Trek |
| 14% 14% | The Ugly Truth |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 86% 86% | A Christmas Tale |
| 60% 60% | Paper Heart |
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