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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.
It'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.
A thinly dramatized slice of music history better suited for broadcast on an MTV offshoot than cinematic release.
In 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.
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.
What We Do Is Secret should be kept as anything but a secret.
The amateur vibe suits the subject matter, and the young cast rises to the challenge.
Top CriticMore amusing than tragic in its depiction of the band's infantile behavior.
Top CriticNot nearly as dramatic or visually captivating as last year's Control ... it does offer an interesting piece of the puzzle from the L.A. hardcore scene that hasn't been explored.
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.
Top CriticThe reasons behind Crash's death might be the most relevant lesson to be learned from the Germs story, and one can only dream of what a filmmaker like Gus Van Sant might have made from the material.
The faux interview preserves Darby Crash's self-image, the reenactment in What We Do Is Secret remembers the preservation.
A highly personal take on the ins and outs of creating and maintaining a band.
Top CriticWest does an earnest job, but that's the problem: He never conjures Crash's psychotic danger. Neither does this eager, flawed, scrappy biopic.
Top CriticThe film's faux-documentary style is a distraction, but it fades in and out. Secret is most compelling when the people and places of L.A. tell this tragic but somehow still ebullient story.
Top CriticIn sure hands, What We Do Is Secret could have been a fine rock'n'roll biopic.
While What We Do Is Secret may not be remembered for much more than West's performance, it's an impersonation worth saluting.
Hits quick, hits hard and never lets go.
The final scenes of Secret are its best and, ironically, the original Germs' final moments were said to be their best, too.
A labor of love for writer-director Rodger Grossman, this entertaining if superficial biopic chronicles the rise and fall of LA punk pioneers the Germs.
Top CriticGrossman's movie never delves much below the surface.
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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