Netflix’s newest original film “The Dirt” opens with a deprecating line about the ’80s that quickly establishes the film’s artistic direction. This movie follows the rise and fall of the infamous hair metal band “Mötley Crüe.” The wild tales about Vince Neil (Daniel Webber, “Danger Close”), Nikki Sixx (Douglas Booth, “Gore”), Tommy Lee (Colson “Machine Gun Kelly” Baker, “Captive State”) and Mick Mars (Iwan Rheon, “Berlin I Love You”) are brought to life in a mediocre fashion.
In a century filled with biopics, such as the critically acclaimed “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Straight outta Compton,” this one feels very rushed and lazy. To start with the good, the film pokes fun at the ridiculousness of the era it is set in. Rheon’s deadpan delivery as an older, more experienced musician is humorous. The emotional depth regarding the characters with their drug abuse and personal failures is done in a respectful manner. The script also tries to give all the band members equal time and not make it a one-man show. This allowed for a unique bond to emerge among the drug-fueled party animals. The fourth wall breaks were interesting in how they were used. There is no doubt there is entertainment value found here, but this does not make up for its numerous flaws.
The pacing of the film feels extremely fast with how the timeline flows. Characters are given no time to develop as one event leads to another. Cliché after cliché is presented to show how the Los Angeles-based musical group got discovered, and the audience is only given specific moments of their career with surface-level writing, to the point where reading an article online provides the same information as presented on screen.
The best biopics take a subject and give viewers a newfound meaning toward it. A great example of this is the 2015 film “Love and Mercy,” which tells the mental health struggle of Beach Boys frontman Brian Wilson. Instead of showing his life in chronological order, the narrative is presented by alternating between two different periods of his troubled life.
The creative process of the band’s material is ignored in this film with the members’ reckless lifestyle at the epicenter. Every female in the movie is flesh for the members to have romantic relations with. The real band members having a say behind the scenes of the film makes their terrible choices seem OK. These men constantly broke the law, violated women and abused drugs. Also, Pete Davidson (“Saturday Night Live”) as a record executive was laughable for the wrong reasons, as his bland delivery with equally corny lines shows why he was miscast.
For die-hard fans of Mötley Crüe, this is not a bad film. The issue is that the best biopics do not require prior knowledge of the subject material; they educate and entertain with purpose. A positive outcome of the film is that the band has reunited once again. “The Dirt” is more about perceived personas of historical figures than embellishing the unknown about their inner beliefs.
