Sid and Nancy at AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center Wednesday, August 19

“Seeeeeeeeid! SEEEEEEEEid!” By the time Chloe Webb howls her onscreen boyfriend’s name for the 90th time, the scene where Sid Vicious stabs her to death can’t come quick enough. But the main reason we remember Nancy Spungeon doesn’t unspool for a while in Alex Cox’s 1986 biopic Sid and Nancy, so there’s plenty of time for Webb’s nails-on-a-blackboard performance to permanently wedge itself into your very soul. That whine—a faithful portrayal by most accounts—complicates what is otherwise a pretty funny, if factually challenged, movie. The camaraderie between Vicious and John “Johnny Rotten” Lydon (Andrew Schofield), shows the joy two working-class kids might take in accidentally shaking Britain from its postwar slumber. But since Cox never interviewed Lydon before writing the screenplay, it’s best to view this as two stories of doomed love—read England’s Dreaming if you want facts or you can’t watch a movie while holding your fingers in your ears half the time. Or if you’re Rod-fucking-Stewart! THE FILM shows AT 9 P.M. AT AFI SILVER THEATRE AND CULTURAL CENTER, 8633 COLESVILLE ROAD, SILVER SPRING. $6–$10. (301) 495-6720.