Stoned (2006)

MY UNION JACK SHIRT IS AT THE CLEANERS Behind the death of the Rolling Stones' flaky Jones

How far gone is Brian Jones (Leo Gregory), the arrogant and substance-addled Rolling Stones guitarist? He's so far gone in Stoned that when he begins to miss recording sessions, retreating to his wood-beamed country manor, somebody scolds him by holding up Keith Richards as an example of responsible drug use. Directed by the veteran British producer Stephen Woolley, Stoned is constructed around the thesis that Jones, who was found dead in his swimming pool in 1969, was murdered — that he essentially got himself killed by degenerating into the single most noxious jerk in the history of rock stardom. He treats his mistress like a whore, drinks himself into a vicious daze, and humiliates his bloke of a builder, Frank Thorogood (Paddy Considine). His real addiction is to being an a--hole. Thorogood allegedly confessed on his deathbed (in 1993) that he killed Jones, and while the movie convinces us that this might have happened, it never truly reveals who Brian Jones was before he fell apart. His indulgence, and his demise, play out in a void.