It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

While I'm not going to rave about the acting in this movie, it was above average and certainly respectable. What makes this movie worth seeing, however, is its fabulous recreation of the life and times of Brian Jones and the Stones - and the little-known details surrounding Jones' mysterious death. Here, a theory is put forward that I have accepted (especially since there's been a death-bed confession) and I believe needs to be known. Stones fans will learn much here, too, about the rocky relationship Jones had with his bandmates toward the end and the reasons for his being fired from the band (including some surprising morality issues that played into it). You'll find yourself gaining new respect for Mick and Keith. While some aspects of the movie don't rise above the feel of a TV flick, I highly urge Stones fans to see it. It gives us a glimpse into a world long gone that helped lead to some of the best songs ever.

No, one should not expect a fictionalization of the Stones' story, but one does expect a reasonable attempt at a depiction of Brian Jones' time with them. As it is, the Stones are peripheral characters in the screenplay. Apart from a few bluesy jams, their own music is absent entirely. The story focuses on the relationships between Jones and his foreman/com-padre Frank Thorogood, out at the rock star's country estate. The large house is conspicuously the movie's prime set. Fine, 'Stoned' had a low budget. Then again, it's from a real-life story which was basically made up of people talking, fighting and falling over. Not so fine is that 'Stoned' had to be so bad. One of the hardest things to swallow about 'Stoned' was the casting of Leo Gregory as Jones. He does little characterization beyond a 'fatalistic' smile, and although 27 years old himself (Jones' age at the time of his death), on screen he looks ten years older and wears a risible array of mail-order hairpieces to represent the varying Jones eras. At times he looks like a young Jon Pertwee in a fright wig. The direction by Stephen Wooley is wildly erratic and at times laughable. Jefferson Airplane's 'White Rabbit' underscoring an acid trip scene is the hack cinematic equivalent of the 'city/pretty' hack songwriting rhyme. It took Wooley ten years to put this botch-up together? Looks more like it was desperately cobbled together late Sunday night and breathlessly handed in by the Monday 9AM deadline. Another Bad Movie Night contender.

I was so disappointed by this movie! I mean... there are NO songs by the Rolling Stones in the movie that I (or anyone else I know) would recognize, Brian Jones never wrote any of their songs, and the Stones "members" might as well have been extras on the set for all the lines they got and acting opportunities received. All of that in itself makes the movie awful. But it gets worse, if possible. Unless you grew up in Cockney Town England, you're not going to understand a THING any of the actors say in the whole movie - they might as well have been speaking Japanese! Just a bunch of Blimey mumbling, cigarettes hanging out of their mouths, and a stupid, twisted, pointless plot line that would probably have been more intelligible with the sound off. In fact, that's my advice to any future watchers - just turn the sound off and the movie won't seem quite so bad.This movie is a prime example of dollars wasted on a stupid theme, a stupid subject, a stupid premise (about the Rolling Stones, but no Stones are really present in the whole movie), and just stupid in general. If you've seen Oliver Stone's great movie "The Doors", and think this one is going to be the same kind of ride except about the Rolling Stones you are in for a grave, deep, and permanent letdown - buyer beware!

The opening shots of the film shows an early stones line up under the leadership of Brian Jones getting their first gig. It is stylishly shot in black and white and as they roll through little red rooster a camera takes stills of the action. Then from the slow blues rift you are suddenly thrust to the frantic end as Brian is found dead in the pool. It is the stark contrast that works well and shocks the viewer into the heart of scene. Then the incredibly tragic and eccentric life of Brian Jones is told in a heady mix of flashback drug trips and sly nods to 'performance'. Leo Gregory stumbles through the film as Brian much like Michael Pitt did as Kurt Cobain in Van Sant's 'last days', you already know the outcome but it's the road on which you get there that forms the backbone of the plot. As Jones becomes more estranged, paranoid, wildly extravagant and more drug fuelled it begins to rub off on frank the builder who is doing work on Brian's house. Brian being bored and in need of not only a nanny but a drinking partner takes frank under his wing to a certain extent. But Jones being the flamboyant pop star doesn't see frank as anything more than a builder and taunts him until its too late. Frank see Jones' world of excess and wants in, although when he finds it out of reach that want turns to anger and jealousy. If you approach this film looking for a story of the stones you wont find it, this film like last days is a film that shows one mans downfall and the lives of those around him who should have helped. Jones portrayed as never happier than when making music is rock and roll myth personified. Without the tragic end to his life, the question is posed, would anyone still remember the tortured genius behind the stones early formation? There is obviously a love for the era and Jones from director Woolley, who not afraid to show Jones' vulnerable side also tries to show the man behind the myth. Whether a fan of the band or not this is an interesting film full of directing techniques and skillful editing that blend into a heady mix of rock and roll excess which takes the viewer to the sixties and back through one of the most interesting stories of the time.