Film Review

Brian Jones was the founder of the Rolling Stones,and Stoned is the story of his tragic and untimely end. Kicked out of the band because of his drug use, lack of commitment and general disconnectedness, he died tragically in a swimming pool accident which has been the subject of any number of conspiracy theories.

Whenever a celebrity dies too young and in slightly odd circumstances, the rumour mill gets going and all kinds of theories get advanced to explain what happened.

This film is one such attempt and makes very clear its view on what happened the fateful night. Bio-pics can be challenging, they often seem overly stylized and forced. This one does alright for the most part--the acting is a bit forced at times--as are the sex-drugs-rock scenes--the people who make these films must live in some kind of bubble where they never come into contact with all that stuff in real life and show it for what it really is--which is always less than it seems.Paddy Considine plays George Thorogood, the builder who became Jones's close ally and, to some, the architect of the guitarists final demise, and does a good job of giving the film some depth and dimension, and Leo Gregory, as Jones, does a pretty good job as the paranoid and slightly foppish musician.

For a film about the Rolling Stones it is a little light on the music end of things, three Stones songs only, but there are some nice musical touches, I wish there had been more. Stones fans will probably be disappointed overall, the rest of the band don't come out too well, as one would expect. But it is a story first and foremost about the end of Brian Jones's life a time when the Stones were pretty much history. Jones has always been cited in reverential tones, much like Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd, and this film takes a hagiographic perspective which wears a bit at times. Much like The LIbertine, the main character in this film seems to throw his giftedness away for no good reason--that is always sad to see.