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.
Comment
08/30/09
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.
Synopsis: Filmmaker Rodger Grossman’s decade of research led to this gem of movie which looks at the seminal band from the late 70’s LA punk rock scene, the Germs, and their enigmatic lead singer, Darby... [More]
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
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.
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
First-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
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.
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
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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:
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August 10, 2008:
Trailer & Poster review
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