Critical response
The Runaways received generally positive reviews from critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 69% rating based on 193 reviews, and an average rating of 6.20/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Viewers expecting an in-depth biopic will be disappointed, but The Runaways is as electric as the band's music, largely thanks to strong performances by Michael Shannon, Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart". On Metacritic, the film received an average score of 65 based on 36 reviews, indicating "Generally favorable reviews". The performances by Fanning, Stewart and Shannon were highlighted as some of the film's strongest elements.
Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle noted that the film "doesn't always tell the literal truth" about the band, but felt that "[m]ore crucially, it conveys precisely what it was like to be young in the mid-1970s [...] And in getting that one thing right—in capturing that strange combination of despair and frustrated energy—it gets everything right." Roger Ebert gave The Runaways 3 stars out of 4, praising the performances of Shannon, Stewart and Fanning, while writing that the film's visuals and music "[helped] cover an underwritten script and many questions about the characters" which he found slimly developed. Dennis Harvey of Variety gave the film a positive review, commenting that it "proves [to be a] conventionally enjoyable making-and-breaking-of-the-band saga" and goes on to compliment the cinematography and soundtrack. A. O. Scott of The New York Times felt that Sigismondi "infuses crucial scenes with a rough, energetic spirit, and shows a willingness to accept the contradictions inherent in the material without prurience, moralism or too much sentimentality." Even if The Runaways "hits a few too many standard music biography beats" and "may be a little too tame in the end", he added, "at its best it is just wild enough."
Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B− and wrote that Sigismondi's "sixth sense for how the Runaways were bad-angel icons first and a rock 'n' roll band second" was the "most entertaining thing about" the film, which he described as a "highly watchable if mostly run-of-the-mill group biopic". Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times felt that the film, which she described as "a street-level snapshot" of the titular band's creation, should have featured Jett's story instead of staying "too narrowly focused" on that of Currie. David Edelstein of New York magazine gave the film a less positive review, commenting that "since the music itself is secondary, there's not a lot to this story," and adding "It’s Fanning's movie: You can taste the ex–child actor's relish for playing jailbait." Time praised the acting in the film, stating that Fanning "turns in a performance of startling maturity", "seduces us utterly" and is "like a mini-Meryl Streep". Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club gave The Runaways a C, writing that the film is "numbingly familiar" and filled with "rock-movie clichés". He concluded, "The Runaways were the first major all-girl punk band. In honor of this distinction, they’re now the first major all-girl punk band to inspire a bleary, excessive, and altogether mediocre big-screen biography."
