A docudrama with the production qualities of a made-for-MTV movie about a band that recorded one album and never finished a gig and whose lead singer was a fascist poseur.
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08/30/09
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What We Do Is Secret (2008)
43
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:42
Fresh:18
Rotten:24
Average Rating:5.2/10
Consensus: Despite its dynamic subject and reckless anti-glamor, this biopic about the legendary punk rocker Darby Crash fails to translate the excitement its subject generated.
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Reviews for What We Do Is Secret
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04/23/09
In sure hands, What We Do Is Secret could have been a fine rock'n'roll biopic.
11/07/08
West is magnetic trying to fill the gaps in the pop psychology insight into how the Germs' brief candle burned out so fast, with performances, "interviews" and flashbacks.
11/01/08
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10/18/08
Despite its thorough attention to historical detail and the obvious love of all involved for their shattered subject, What We Do Is Secret is, in the end, awfully sterile for a movie about the Germs.
10/17/08
While What We Do Is Secret may not be remembered for much more than West's performance, it's an impersonation worth saluting.
10/10/08
The final scenes of Secret are its best and, ironically, the original Germs' final moments were said to be their best, too.
09/26/08
The battering live shows prove West's dedication to the role, but as always there's too little insight into both music and musicians and too much period design
09/12/08
The faux interview preserves Darby Crash's self-image, the reenactment in What We Do Is Secret remembers the preservation.
09/12/08
Grossman's movie never delves much below the surface.
09/04/08
Some of the supporting performances, like those of Phillips and Gonzalez, are very strong, but it's West who lifts the entire film to a whole other level.
08/29/08
Top CriticIt's a shame to see such vibrant material treated in such a routine, nostalgic manner, but the energy of the material and especially of the Germs music occasionally rescues the movie from its unimpressive, superficial stretches.
08/28/08
High School Musical with needles and dye jobs.
08/28/08
Despite a terrific performance from Shane West, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Crash, Secret is a chronology, not a biopic.
08/28/08
Top CriticFirst-time writer-director Rodger Grossman bangs out a visceral, energized biopic that captures the vibrant idiocy of punked-out youth and a tortured soul gaining his wish of cult status.
08/22/08
Top CriticA labor of love for writer-director Rodger Grossman, this entertaining if superficial biopic chronicles the rise and fall of LA punk pioneers the Germs.
08/21/08
Top CriticIn the end, if you weren't already a believer, you're not going to leave with any kind of appreciation for the band's art.
08/19/08
Where What We Do Is Secret succeeds is in the performances which (and this a compliment, I think) sometimes expose a stilted, amateurish strain that's oddly in tune with the characters' D.I.Y. aesthetic.
08/15/08
Top CriticThe best parts of Secret recall Sid and Nancy. The worst evoke the last, inferior A Star Is Born.
08/15/08
Top CriticLatest News for What We Do Is Secret
November 03, 2008:
RT on DVD: Get Smart, Futurama: Bender's Game and the Obama DVD Controversy
This week, pick up Steve Carell's sweetly bumbling spy antics (Get Smart), the promising new Futurama movie (Bender's Game), a few early holiday treats (Shrek the Halls, A... More...
October 31, 2008:
The hyperactive emotional landscape begs for psychological insights and cultural revelations that were tied to that historical musical moment.
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August 22, 2008:
The hyperactive emotional landscape begs for psychological insights and cultural revelations that were tied to that historical musical moment.
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August 10, 2008:
Trailer & Poster review
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