Who comes up with the idea of ​​making a movie about Mötley Crüe? Mötley Crüe!

"The Dirt," a US feature released Friday at Netflix, was made after the eponymous autobiography of the popular in the eighties glam metal band, which told the usual history of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll , That was in 2001. As executing producers, the then lead original cast - Nikki Sixx, Vince Neil, Mick Mars and Tommy Lee - is also responsible for this biopic, which now, after all sorts of production bickering, in 2019 of cocaine and heroin, but mostly told by groupies, chicks and other "bitches". Are you crazy?

Now, every question that starts with "May one still today ..." should generally be a thunderous "Yes, dammit!" be answered before it is completed.

Of course, "may" still be told from the rock business of the eighties and pretend that there had never been HIV. Of course, this "may" be described strictly and solely from the changing perspectives of the musicians themselves. And, of course, Jeff Tremaine is "allowed" to do that as director of the notorious "Jackass" series on MTV.

Intoxicating pictures

Tremaine knows with which timing one orchestrates an orgy at the pool or a blowjob behind the stage. All the more miserable is the timing of the film itself, because #MeToo has changed the view of the hero stories of male self-actualization.

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"The Dirt": From old guys for eternal boys

Quite common is "The Dirt". It is, as always in the musical biopic, going on with intoxicating pictures. From the hopeful miserliness in the rehearsal room over the big circus in the Boeing 747 over many white lines on silver trays, the action leads straight to the detox clinic. In the case of Mötley Crüe, the story does not end in the cemetery, even though it was probably in short supply - and is therefore also a story of purification and friendship. Under boys.

The first woman to perform is the drinking and smoking mother of bassist Nikki Sixx (Douglas Booth). From the rebellious teenager's point of view, she is a "Bitch!" This sets the tone for the rest of the movie. By the way, women, like the songs ("Kickstart My Heart", "Girls, Girls, Girls"), stay in the background as well. Their presence illustrates the dissolute lifestyle of the musicians who consume them, such as coke - which is snatched away from their bare bottom in a scene ("Hey, do not fidget like that!").

At some point Sixx announces, while another naked man gives him the utensils, he has fallen head over heels in love with the cutest thing I have ever known, giving me all the warmth and happiness that I had never felt as a child. It was called heroin ". The gentlemen all have a large, mother-shaped hole in their hearts that can only be filled by saints. By the way, there is also a whore and a blowjob under the table. Or a stripper, on whose back the drummer vomits in the drug intoxication.

Characteristic is a scene in which the girlfriend of Vince Neil (Daniel Webber) protests during a rehearsal, the boys played "too loud". Bandleader Sixx instructs the singer on his lyrics and then points to the girlfriend: "Keep it quiet!" Before the group starts to "rock out" especially loud. Heavy Metal, we learn, is also a male thing in its glam rock incarnation. Later there's a slap in the face for female counterparts.

Endstation Katzenjammer

Now Mötley Crüe - unlike Queen, who were recently celebrated with "Bohemian Rhapsody" - were already ridiculous decals and bland infusions of dozens of clichés played by what life as a rock star brings with them - from the hysterical hedonism, in the film quite well is staged with comedic "spinal tap" -Verve, until the following depression, which is stylized as consistently tragedy.

Where her compulsive amusement leads her is prefigured by performances by Ozzy Osbourne (Tony Cavalero), who sips his own urine and nip an ant street, or the lethargic David Lee Roth (Christian Gehring). Right there, in the foggy Katzenjammer, Mötley Crüe also land.

Worth seeing is how Douglas Booth, who once embodied the pop counterproject Boy George, embodied the slipping of Nikki Sixx. Also refreshing is the naive lightheartedness with which Colson Baker (known as Machine Gun Kelly as a rapper) plays drummer Tommy Lee, who will marry and lose the TV star Heather Locklear (Rebekah Graf). Guitarist Mick Mars features Game of Thrones psychopath Ivan Rheon.

"The Dirt" - Watch trailer:

The rise of this band takes place on the backs of women. Their descent is evident in the fact that they can eventually slump their groupies, wives and mothers down the hump. If you've never considered toxic masculinity, you'll find all sorts of illustrative material in this film, shot by young guys based on old guys for an audience of eternal boys. Involuntarily, if you will. "The Dirt" is not a contribution to feminism, he also does not want to expose traditional rock'n'roll narrative and modern interpret, he should cement only the legend of their aged authors.

Despite all the honesty displayed, there is a suspicion that some of the "Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band", as the swanky subheading of the biography book was titled, had some "Dirt" swept under the carpet. In the end, the men pull themselves out of the dirt on their own long hair - they remember their friendship and renew the blood and sperm fraternal bond. And because they did not die, they played "another 20 years together".

"The Dirt" is, like Mötley Crüe himself, a little ridiculous and fallen out of time. Such a film can and must be made. You just do not have to look at it.