Movies.ie

• Critic rating
• Currently 1/5 Stars.

Movies.ie Critic Review

It’s the 1970s, Dublin’s Mount Temple school, and the kids are all set on becoming rock stars – especially Paul Hewson (McCann) and Neil McCormick (Barnes). The former becomes Bono; the latter becomes a struggling nobody who, too proud to ever accept a helping hand from his rock star mate, keeps both himself, and his guitarist brother (Sheehan), down in the also-rans. Of course, the crap songs don’t help either.

THE VERDICT: Akin to Toby Young’s cringe-inducing 'How To Lose Friends And Alienate People', Neil McCormick’s memoirs of his failed attempt to become a rock star, just like his mate, Bono, makes for a sorry, and increasingly irritating, film. This is Dig! without the rebel, or the cause. Or the tunes.

Review by Paul Byrne 

• Avg User rating
• Currently 3/5 Stars.

User Reviews

• • Currently 3/5 Stars.

  Massman

  

  Quite enjoyable!

• • Currently 3/5 Stars.

  mart

  

  Killing Bono is an amusing, knockabout contribution to a sub-genre of rock movies about bands and rock stars that didn't quite reach the top or fell by the wayside

• • Currently 3/5 Stars.

  darthrodney

  

  Decent little movie, seems more like a C4 made for TV movie really. Some decent laughs and a nice take on mid 80's Dublin. I knew the premise of the movie coming in ... all I'll say is, if half the stuff in this movie was real about just how badly the lead scewed up his and most of all his brothers life if he was my brother he'd be a dead man. Sheehan is a high point and does well ... the rest of the cast is pretty "Meh". And the cameo by Jason Byrne is just bloody awful. Wait for it to be on TV, maybe a DVD rental at a push.

• • Currently 2/5 Stars.

  hammer

  

  There were a few laughs, but not even Robert Sheehan could make up for this movie.

• • Currently 1/5 Stars.

  plantman

  

  I thought this was one of the worst films i have ever seen,it was terribly boring and the lead character was so irritating and acted like somebody from fair city, i could not wait for this to have finished

• • Currently 4/5 Stars.

  steven seagull

  

  How did this get 1 measly star...joke. The Good: Funny moments throughout, good soundtrack, nicely paced, good chemisty between the two lead actors & a good last performance from Pete Postlethwaite. The Bad: the Jason Byrne cameo (I'm sorry but he's not funny...he's like a dried turd that's covered by greedy flies), Bit hammy at times, prehaps paints Bono in too much of a good light as he can be a bit annoying in real life.

• • Currently 4/5 Stars.

  laume

  

  A good-natured, boisterous comedy with a Likely Lads feel.

• • Currently 4/5 Stars.

  tullyr4

  

  Good Show!

• • Currently 3/5 Stars.

  SEEYA

  

  Its ok, not as funny as expected, bit boring in parts, it'll launch Robert Sheehan for sure, if you like him watch Misfits on E4 he's a scream in it. I'd wait for DVD.

• • Currently 4/5 Stars.

  aoibheana

  

• • Currently 4/5 Stars.

  kevinmcn

  

  This is in the vein of the Commitments and really not bad at all, complete with some laugh out loud moments. The early scenes of late 70's Dublin and early U2 seem spot on. It loses its way in the middle and the subplot involving the IRA gangster could have been chopped. But overall a very decent movie.

• • Currently 3/5 Stars.

  dempseyj

  

  A short, talented, cocky, philanthropic, smug, erudite, tax-exiled, influential, holier-than-thou, sunglasses-sporting tosser, whose self-styled pseudonym sounds like the other half of a Cher variety duo. Yes it’s U2 frontman, Bono, and a sideways glance at his meteoric rise to music fame, told through the green eyes of his schoolmate Neil. It’s a bit of fun, it’s very camp, but sadly Killing Bono just isn’t deadly. Imagine growing up in Dublin in the late 70s and watching your mate Paul go on to form the biggest band in the world since The Beatles, top trumping your own troupe with global success as you struggle to even make it on the domestic scene. That’s what happened to Neil McCormick, carrying a grudge the size of the Irish banking bailout, and about whom U2’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind could have been named. This liberal adaptation of McCormick’s memoir I was Bono’s Doppelgänger has tongue firmly in cheek and some winning performances. But it falls apart with crass and ill-advised stabs at bawdy humour and gangster subplots. Like U2 themselves, it all started so well… First and foremost, a standing ovation and big fat IFTA for Ben Barnes’ Irish accent, by far one of the best attempts at our broad and lilting brogue. Where so many others (Julia Roberts, Tom Cruise, Kevin Spacey, Gerard Butler, Tommy Lee Jones, Sean Connery, Julia Roberts again, and a special mention for self-proclaimed Irishman, Pierce Brosnan) have tried and fecked it up royally, Barnes delivers a discernible Dublin accent, with soft Ts and fricative finesse that you’ll quickly fail to notice he’s not Irish at all. Bravo, Barnes, Bravo. In his first comedic lead, Barnes is very watchable, a fun if somewhat slight performance as Neil, perfectly capturing a camp 80s style and showmanship bravura when performing on stage. Shame then that he’s let down by a script that leaves him looking like the most spiteful, and camp, popstar to ever grace the stage. Neil, so sure that he can better U2’s chart toppers, is somewhat unlikeable, spitefully turning down every break he and brother Ivan get, to the point that you begin to find him pathetic. Robert Sheehan, the fresh-faced star of Heroes with ASBOs sitcom Misfits, is also charming, if a tad one note, as younger brother Ivan, cock of the walk and with mullet to spare, but with God-given comic timing and spirit in spades. A special nod to Martin McCann too, for his enjoyable impersonation of the big man himself, and to Pete Postlethwaite as the flamboyant Karl, in his final film role before his death in January of this year. The great energy of the opening act is lost, however, when the lads get involved in dodgy dealings with some down and dirty Dublin gangsters and ship off to London to strike it big. Aiming squarely at cheap laughs and blowjob jokes, the plot wears thin and the banter falls flat. Things get very predictable, with only the introduction of Peter Serafinowicz’s record label hack Hammond, stealing every scene he’s in. And the hurried final-act descent into darker areas merely hampers proceedings after the pantomime that came before. Genuinely funny in parts, Killing Bono is a slight and easy film, but lacks the smarts to make it a memorable one.

• • Currently 3/5 Stars.

  TheAngelicDiablo

  

  Not enough killing, Too much Bono.

• • Currently 4/5 Stars.

  indiana tash

  

  A great new homegrown comedy! Its lighthearted, funny and good all round film that keeps you engaged from start to finish. Its got some great performances from both Ben Barnes (who manages to hold a decent irish accent) and Robert Sheehan, with a nice cameo from the late Pete Postlethwaite.

• • Currently 2/5 Stars.

  DavidMinogue

  

  Ben Barnes gives it his all as the haphazard Neil McCormick while Robert Sheehan as his brother spends most of the film like a rabbit stuck in headlights. It dosen't convince on most levels and comes across like an 80's themed nightclub than a trip back to the real thing. It's heart was in the right place and then just got a bit lost.

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