Killing Bono (2011) Reviews

• You Still Won't Find What You're Looking For

  bettywhait062011-04-05

  I went to see this last night, and left feeling a little disappointed. It's based on true events as main character Neil McCormick and his brother Ivan attend the same school as Bono, with new bands setting up all the time. Bono, of course, goes on to world domination with U2, whilst the McCormick brothers are left desperately trying to seek the big time, whilst at the same time eating cold beans from a tin as their finances and fortunes dwindle away. The spine of the film, however, is that an as yet undiscovered Bono approaches Neil and tells him he would like his brother to join U2. Neil rejects the offer out of hand, but fails to tell Ivan, believing that their band will become bigger and better than U2. The scriptwriters were industry legends Dick Clement and Ian LaFrenais of Porridge, The Likely Lads and Auf Wiedersehen Pet but I was nervous when I saw their names because for my money they are much more suited to character driven 30 minute TV comedy, and their occasional forays into movies have been very hit and miss. They even tried the music-tensions-within-a-band premise a decade earlier with Still Crazy, although that was a decent enough film. The problem is that Killing Bono doesn't quite know where to go. It's billed as a comedy yet it isn't anywhere near funny enough, and too many of the 'laughs' seem staged and deliberate. And there is too much of a dark undercurrent running throughout - I feel the movie would have been better had it not been billed as a comedy and the production team let the bitterness and unfulfilled jealousies of McCormick come out without trying to play it for laughs. Fair enough, it's a good idea that every time he tries to succeed with his band Bono has seemingly got there first (the first big gig he secures just happens to clash with Live Aid!), but the hesitant mood of the movie means we quickly dislike McCormick as our main character - and a film where the lead fails to engage with the audience is very dangerous indeed. Martin McCann does a sterling job as a timid Bono, but as others will no doubt say, the movie had a golden opportunity to fill its soundtrack with an extensive U2 back catalogue which would have helped it along much more. It's likable in places, and the much missed Pete Postlethwaite dazzles in his final role (all the more poignant as he physically looks heartbreakingly ill), but this is no Commitments, which, of course, Clement and LaFrenais also scripted.

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• A close shave with fame

  PipAndSqueak2011-04-03

  To truly appreciate this film you'll either have to be 40 something plus or be heavily involved in your own peer group's music scene. The League of Gentleman have a failed musician character that they play for the pathos type of comedy. Here, a real 'failed' musician finds comedy in rewriting his own aborted attempt at snatching fame and fortune in the fickle music industry. It's a very affectionate account - skating gently over the less pleasant aspects of the industry. Robert Sheehan is a dream as Ivan - oooh yes you could really see him in the U2 line up - something brother Neil prevented from happening. I honestly was transported back to the 1980's and dodgy music venues and half baked bands performing as if their lives depended on it. Fabulous. Not everyone's cup of tea though. Pure nostalgia for me - but oh I do wish they'd managed to sneak in a bit more of actual U2 music.

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• An enjoyable surprise

  Agirlonline2011-10-02

  I really enjoyed this movie. I have to admit, I initially had NO interest in the story, and only set out to see it to check out Ben Barnes' latest project. But within 10 minutes I forgot about watching "the lovely Mr. Barnes" (which he is not, in this movie) and was genuinely captivated by and became engaged in the story, the characters and the humor. I'd seen clips and responded with a yawn; thought the comedy portrayed in them was obvious and heavy-handed. But the trailer doesn't do it justice. The laughs were real and unexpected and the dialogue quick, natural and enjoyable. All of the supporting characters were excellent. Robert Sheehan, whom I'd never seen in anything prior, did a good job and Barnes disappears into and owns his character. All in all a fun watch, I'd recommend it.

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• Plays like an episode of Grange Hill

  Rob-O-Cop2011-05-28

  I think the story this movie tells actually had some legs on it. It was interesting, there was depth and insight in it, but the director chose exactly the wrong tone for telling it and the result is an addition to the list of failures associated with the central figure. The tone is a mediocre wanting-to-please-everyone Grange Hill TV vibe with none of the serious themes coming through well because everything is played for light, obvious, almost slapstick laughs; it's delivery so rooted in dated TV stylings that you wonder what the production team were thinking. Sure the story is from the 80's but cinema has grown leaps and bounds since then. Look to the documentary Anvil for how something like this could better be handled. Some of the cast were well chosen but their delivery was well off, in keeping with the bad choice of feel. I wish this film was better, and another production team may well milk it for the good it has in its story, if it gets another shot at its 15 mins of fame. On a side note original videos of the real band shook up show them to be something quite terrible, so that kind of ruins everything.

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• Not Faint Praise, But This Film Is Better Than You've Heard.

  mcgonigle-m2012-04-27

  When I first heard about this film, I obviously knew it was fiction because Bono is still very much alive. But then knowing how a film is going to end has never hurt any James Bond or Titanic film, has it? What Killing Bono has; despite some overly clever writing and some narrative boondoggles, is a cast of young talented actors with fresh faces and I still, after forty years of watching and writing about movies, I can STILL be enthralled by an actors performance. Ingmar Bergman said that the human face has everything you need for a camera subject. Many people look to the grizzled faces of Clint Eastwood or later Gary Cooper films to find a long, rough life etched in flesh. But they were young once. Footage of the young creamy Clint Eastwood and the dreamy Gary Cooper are just as expressive as their older faces are, albeit in a different way. Same thing with Ben Barnes and Robert Sheehan. Who knows what they will look like forty years from now, but who cares when they look so good in 2012! Killing Bono has a humorous edge to it that is also quite dramatic, as opposed to the other way round. I think this confuses some people. I almost think critics were hoping for some kind of critical take on the exigencies of stardom and the portentousness of people who have become successful in one field and then think this gives them credibility in another. Rock stars are not alone in this. Just look at all the rich idiots who think because they made a lot of money in some business or other, this gives them the skills needed to serve as the President. Well, it doesn't. In fact, I would say success in some crooked business is a drawback. You can't govern those whom you despise. Still director Nick Hamm has made a film that looks very good despite its small budget and while it may go over the top here and there, it is still wonderful fun and then there are the actors, who are all good. Especially Pete Poselthwaite in his last film role playing the gay landlord for the boys in the band who is a lecherous old coot. He gives me hope that I can still successfully pinch young bums when I am in my dotage. When was the last time any film gave you that kind of wonderful hope?

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