What We Do Is Secret (2007)

43% of critics liked it
(47 reviews)
54% of users liked it
(7,792 ratings)

The true-life story of Darby Crash, who became a Los Angeles punk icon before taking his own life in 1980, provides the background for this gritty musical biopic. Not long after getting kicked out of an experimental high school in Los Angeles, charismatic misfit and major David Bowie fan Jan Paul… More The true-life story of Darby Crash, who became a Los Angeles punk icon before taking his own life in 1980, provides the background for this gritty musical biopic. Not long after getting kicked out of an experimental high school in Los Angeles, charismatic misfit and major David Bowie fan Jan Paul Beahm (Shane West) announces that he wants to form a rock band. With his best friend Georg Ruthenberg (Rick Gonzalez), Beahm creates a group called the Germs, mainly because their first choice, "Sophistif--k and the Revlon Spam Queens" costs too much to put on a T-shirt. Beahm appoints himself lead singer, Ruthenberg becomes guitarist even though he has no command of the instrument, and Beahm creates new stage names for them -- George becomes Pat Smear, and Jan is now Bobby Pyn. After a few less-than-impressive attempts to putting Beahm's "five-year plan" into action, the Germs begin to click with the addition of sweet but musically inexperienced Lorna Doom (Bijou Phillips) on bass and Arizona transplant Don Bolles (Noah Segan) on drums. Bobby Pyn gives himself another new name, Darby Crash, and the Germs become the talk of the Los Angeles punk scene with their reckless but literate songs and Darby's aggressive performance style. The Germs become big fish in the small pond of L.A. punk, but when hard drugs enter into the picture, Darby begins alienating those closest to him, and after the Germs' collapse, he's at a loss for how to bring his grand scheme to the next level. The real Pat Smear served as a music producer for What We Do Is Secret, recreating the sound of the Germs and other seminal L.A. punk groups for the soundtrack, while the surviving members of the Germs played a series of reunion dates following the production of the movie, with Shane West standing in as lead singer. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 32 min.
Directed By: Rodger Grossman
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: Jun 23, 2007 Wide
On DVD: Nov 4, 2008
Studio: Vision Films

Critic Reviews

David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle
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.
Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer
Despite a terrific performance from Shane West, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Crash, Secret is a chronology, not a biopic.
Michael Ordoña, Los Angeles Times
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.
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader
A labor of love for writer-director Rodger Grossman, this entertaining if superficial biopic chronicles the rise and fall of LA punk pioneers the Germs.
Jim Emerson, Chicago Sun-Times
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.
Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune
The best parts of Secret recall Sid and Nancy. The worst evoke the last, inferior A Star Is Born.
Kelly Vance, East Bay Express
Long live the baby monsters.
Sonny Bunch, Washington Times
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.
Stan Hall, Oregonian
In sure hands, What We Do Is Secret could have been a fine rock'n'roll biopic.
Nora Lee Mandel, Film-Forward.com
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.
Prairie Miller, NewsBlaze
The hyperactive emotional landscape begs for psychological insights and cultural revelations that were tied to that historical musical moment.
Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle
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.
John Hartl, Seattle Times
While What We Do Is Secret may not be remembered for much more than West's performance, it's an impersonation worth saluting.
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul), St. Paul Pioneer Press
The final scenes of Secret are its best and, ironically, the original Germs' final moments were said to be their best, too.
Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly
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
Cynthia Fuchs, PopMatters
The faux interview preserves Darby Crash's self-image, the reenactment in What We Do Is Secret remembers the preservation.
Richard Knight, Windy City Times
Grossman's movie never delves much below the surface.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
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.
Tricia Olszewski, Let's Not Listen
High School Musical with needles and dye jobs.