
The true-life story of Darby Crash, who became an L.A. punk icon before taking his own life in 1980. After getting kicked out of high school, Darby forms The Germs with a collection of friends who have little experience with their instruments or playing music; Pat Smear, Lorna Doom and Don Bolles. After a few disastrous gigs, the band begins to click and Darby and The Germs soon find themselves the talk of the L.A. punk scene. When hard drugs enter the picture, Darby starts a... (Full plot summary below)
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The true-life story of Darby Crash, who became an L.A. punk icon before taking his own life in 1980. After getting kicked out of high school, Darby forms The Germs with a collection of friends who have little experience with their instruments or playing music; Pat Smear, Lorna Doom and Don Bolles. After a few disastrous gigs, the band begins to click and Darby and The Germs soon find themselves the talk of the L.A. punk scene. When hard drugs enter the picture, Darby starts alienating those closest to him and when The Germs collapse, he's at a loss to figure out what comes next.
Leave your thoughts about What We Do Is Secret.
| Seattle TimesJohn HartlWhile What We Do Is Secret may not be remembered for much more than West's performance, it's an impersonation worth saluting. |
| PopMattersCynthia FuchsThe faux interview preserves Darby Crash's self-image, the reenactment in What We Do Is Secret remembers the preservation. |
| ColeSmithey.comCole SmitheyThe movie does little to elucidate the experiences and suicidal personality of a singer who was more of a poseur than a musician. |
| ReelTalk Movie ReviewsDonald J. LevitSome non-fans may find here a social document, but most should beware of a high-decibel obscenity assault on the ears -- precisely what that shock rock movement wanted. |
| OregonianStan HallIn sure hands, What We Do Is Secret could have been a fine rock'n'roll biopic. |
| Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovDespite 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. |
| Film-Forward.comNora Lee MandelWest 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. |
| Combustible CelluloidJeffrey M. AndersonIt'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. |
| Chicago Sun-TimesJim EmersonWhere 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. |
| Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanWest does an earnest job, but that's the problem: He never conjures Crash's psychotic danger. Neither does this eager, flawed, scrappy biopic. |