I'll give Kristen Stewart another chance in 'The Runaways'

IrishCentral readers got a little up in arms a couple of weeks ago when I commented on Kristen Stewart's seeming lack of Hollywood-worthy stage presence at the Academy Awards. I think it's exactly this genuine, anti-starlet teenage energy that's going to serve her well in her critically lauded portrayal of Irish-American rock star Joan Jett in The Runaways, released April 9 and co-starring Dakota Fanning.

Joan Jett was born Joan Marie Larkin (Anglicized from the Gaelic O'Lorcain) in a suburb of Philadelphia, and the upcoming film is a coming-of-age biopic chronicling Jett and her bandmates' rise to fame as a history-making all-girl underage rock band.

I'm excited to see Stewart break out of her Twilight persona and stand on her own, rather than as part of the K-Stew/R-Patz phenomenon. Jett (pictured with Stewart, left) was impressed with her performance, as were numerous critics.

"Stewart, known mainly for mumbling and stumbling through the Twilight movies, is the revelation [in The Runaways]," wrote Mick LaSalle in the San Francisco Chronicle.