These actors and many more make What We Do Is Secret an absolute blast to watch and they do an undeniably perfect job of recreating this notorious scene.

Actor Shane West and writer-director Rodger Grossman have a clear, unwavering perspective on Crash that should entice curiosity seekers and old punks.

The aptly-named Crash is played to a tee by West; in fact, his performance was so believable that he's currently on tour with the reformed Germs as the lead singer.

Grossman does a workmanlike job with the film, but his direction and script don't really offer any great insight into Darby's tortured soul.

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.

Ex-Germs infect biopic with punk authenticity

One for the fans, even though writer-director Rodger Grossman and co-writer Michelle Baer Ghaffari labor mightily to spin it into something larger.

Like so many earlier movie biographies, Secret suffers from bathetic storytelling and dialogue, some of it laughable.

What's lacking is a feeling for the heat and deafening chaos of actual club shows. The movie hangs back a little, folds its arms and nods its head, rather than rushing the stage or diving into the mosh pit. The tumult is depicted, not captured.

The movie is exciting at times, moving at times, and watchable throughout, but fans of The Germs and L.A. punk may start to pine for what's missing around the time Michele Hicks shows up.

The movie offers too little of Crash's justly revered lyricism and too much of his self-mutilation and manufactured chaos.

An unsatisfying biopic.

Shane West does a pretty impressive impersonation of the on-stage antics of Darby Crash...Unfortunately, little else in this clunky, half-baked biopic rings very true.

Entertaining if superficial.